Couple make burglar clean their home LOLOL

[Are_grits_groceries]

What would you do if you came home to find your house ransacked, and worse, that the burglar was still inside?

A couple from Montgomery, Alabama, did what some people might find unthinkable - they made the burglar clean up the mess he had made at gunpoint while they waited for the police to arrive.

“Tears just rolled down my face as I walked in and saw everything gone and piles of trash all over my home,” Mrs. McKinnon told her local newspaper the Montgomery Advertiser.

When her husband walked into another room to check what was missing he came face to face with the burglar, who was wearing one of Mr. McKinnon’s hats.

“My husband Adrian caught the thief red-handed in our home. And what is even crazier, the man even had my husband’s hat sitting right on his head,” Mrs. McKinnon said.

Mr. McKinnon held suspect Tajuan Bullock at gunpoint and made him sit down until he decided what to do.

“We made this man clean up all the mess he made, piles of stuff, he had thrown out of my drawers and cabinets onto the floor,” Mrs. McKinnon said.

When the police arrived the work-shy burglar had the cheek to complain to them - about having to clean up his mess at gunpoint.

But the police officer laughed at Bullock when he complained and told him that anybody else would have shot him dead.

http://papazoo.com/2008/01/05/couple-make-burglar-clean-their-home-at-gunpoint/

Good on 'em!

[Maine-ah]

1. roflmao!

kudos to the McKinnons!

[Warpy]

2. At least the guy who ripped me off was neat

considering I don't think he was inside more than 10 minutes. Very little was disturbed. He just saw stuff and grabbed it.

That's about all I had to be grateful for. My mother's jewelry wasn't insured since it was sentimental stuff and I knew money wouldn't compensate for its loss.

[petronius]

3. That's really brilliant! (Well, perhaps not entirely brilliant, a bit risky

actually, but funny as hell). And the thief was very lucky after his unluckiness.

One thing that strikes me as odd/funny in the writeup is that the wife refers to "piles of trash" when it's apparently just all of her stuff that's been thrown on the floor. :shrug: Maybe she means things were broken and torn up, but it sounds funny...

[dustbunnie]

27. I thought the same, but the couple was gone for the week.

So, it seems he or they had been consistently cleaning them out the whole time and left a mess besides.

"A burglar in Montgomery chose the wrong family to mess with, literally. Adrian and Tiffany McKinnon returned home on Tuesday after a week away to find that thieves had emptied almost everything the family of five owned, Tiffany McKinnon said through tears.

"Tears just rolled down my face as I walked in and saw everything gone and piles of trash all over my home," she said.

Adrian McKinnon sent his wife to see her sister while he inspected the piles left behind. As he walked back into the sunroom, a man walked through the back door straight into him, Tiffany McKinnon told the Montgomery Advertiser in a story Thursday."

http://wcbstv.com/watercooler/Couple.Water.Cooler.2.402364.html

[bobbolink]

4. Yes, it's funny. But if we think a bit deeper....

Look what's happening to people.

Look at what the options REALLY are.

When you have NO MONEY, and noway to survive, what do you do?

I mean, really, WHAT DO YOU DO????

If you have no family and no where to turn, and finally get the message that you are superfluous and decide to kill yourself, then you are locked up and THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS SPENT LOCKING YOU UP BECAUSE YOU'RE "A DANGER TO YOURSELF".

Remember Les Miserables, when the man stole a loaf of bread to feed his sisters starving children, and was locked up for 19 years?

WHAT ARE PEOPLE SUPPOSED TO DO????

[zagging]

5. People are supposed to obey the law

[bobbolink]

6. Could you please reread my THOUGHTFUL post, and actually THINK about it

and answer the question thoughtfully?

I would appreciate it.

And so would millions of poor people in this country.

[zagging]

7. It was thoughtful

Ya can't go stealin stuff just because you've hit hard times. And if you do, sometimes the crime is mitigated in court, but it's still a crime.

[bobbolink]

9. So, you're not willing to really read it and THINK.

So, then, YOU come up with a solution for people who no longer have the means to survive.

What is YOUR proposal????

[zagging]

12. What do you want me to say?

That's it's OK to rip people off if you're broke?

[bobbolink]

16. Actually, I thought "progressives" were able to think of ALTERNATIVES?

or, do we want to just repeat the same things as the past... where crime took over BECAUSE PEOPLE DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH TO EAT OR A PLACE TO LIVE????

Are you saying it's either/or.... Either go without or break the law????

Because if you ARE, then you will reap what you sow.

[zagging]

47. Don't put words in my mouth.

What? Crime hasn't taken over? There are plenty of criminals who have plenty to eat and a place to live. They drive fancy cars, too. I don't know anything about this particular criminal other than he robbed some folks and got caught. I can say with some certainly that if everyone had food and shelter, a car, an education, and no wants or needs that went unfullfilled, it wouldn't take long before we'd be right back where we are right now. Some would gamble it away, some would drink it away, some would have failed businesses, some would snort or inject it away, some would give it away, some would throw it away, some would just flat out stupid it away, etc. Considering that there are over six billion people in the world, I'd say there are over six billion ways to make a mess of a life.

It's the human condition. All we can do it try to mitigate the pain. I don't have the answers to remedy the behaviour of each and every criminal. I would consider it quite impossible. I do know that we can't let criminality slide. All we can do is provide opportunity for people. Through our policies we try to provide that opportunity. We have arguments, debates and eternal struggle over what that policy should be. We are working on it, but there are people who, no matter how many golden rings are placed before them, for one reason or another, will not reach for them.

Maybe our subject just likes the excitement of a life outside the law. It's been known to happen.

[Warren DeMontague]

21. Millions of poor people aren't breaking into other people's houses.

Sorry, there's nothing "thoughtful" about your defending this shit.

[BlooInBloo]

22. The post wasn't thoughtful. It was dumb.

[Renew Deal]

73. We'll see what you "think" if this happens to you.

Hopefully the burglar doesn't decide to rough you up, because "what is he supposed to do?"

[vadawg]

37. bingo, we got to stop making excuses for people doing shit like this

would there be any excuse if this had ended badly with someone getting killed. This dude is just lucky that the homeowner didnt get jumpy and fill his boots for him.

[book_worm]

10. Even in good economic times we have people who rob

I'll admit that bad times may make some people take desperate action, but how do we know it's the times that made this person do it? He could have a record a mile long for all we know.

[bobbolink]

11. We don't know. I posed a question that is REASONABLE, and I would

just as Jean Valjean did, and I'd appreciate people actually giving this some thought.

[book_worm]

13. I think about it every day when I read about the increased muggings

and robbings in the papers. I think it can be the times which might make some people take desperate action. It's a shame that these same people think they have to, as I read in the paper today, toss a 20 year old college student, walking home from studying at the UW library, to the ground and pistol whip her to get whatever little money she might have on her. I don't know if it's the economy which caused that or if that person has always been an agressive asshole.

[11 Bravo]

14. I've thought it over. They should come to your house and clean you out.

Because I have a wife and two kids whom I love more than life, and if someone breaks into our home, well, you pays your money and you takes your chances.

[Warren DeMontague]

25. Really? You mean you wouldn't put aside your bourgois middle class concerns about your family,

and try to UNDERSTAND the poor burglar's point of view? :shrug:

Yeah. Neither would I.

[gmudem]

45. Was this guy stealing bread?

It certainly doesn't sound like it. You can't make excuses for blatant thievery.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

74. Ransacking somebody's home for a week is different than Jean Valjean and you know it

At least, I hope you do.

The guy is lucky he didn't get shot. I would've shot him in that situation.

[wellstone dem]

18. Your post reminds me of a houseless person I spoke with once

He told me he had stolen the Salvation Army bucket, not for the money, but to get arrested to have a warm place to stay. There was no homeless (I prefer houseless) shelter in the city at the time. I think we are only beginning to understand how desperate some people are feeling, and how few options they have.

[bobbolink]

29. OMG!! I heard the same thing about a homeless man with AIDS. He took a gun, WITHOUT AMMO,

into a 7-11, for the same purpose... to get arrested to have a place to sleep and eat.

WE ARE PATHETIC!!!!!

[eridani]

70. And then there was that guy who couldn't pay for chemotherapy

He stuck up a post office and was jailed. He got chemo then.

[Warren DeMontague]

20. People are supposed to break into other people's houses???

Jesus fucking christ.

Oh, no, that's not what you're saying. Right? You just want "underdstanding" for the dude who BROKE INTO SOMEONE ELSE'S HOUSE.

I'm sorry, but homeless people, destitute people, folks scraping by or worse, yes, they have my sympathy.

Dude breaks into someone else's house-- Nope. Sorry. No sympathy.

You want to worry about people who are locked up for no good reason? Try millions of non-violent drug offenders in prison for nothing worse than smoking a joint.

Breaking into someone else's house is a CRIME and yes, guy should go to jail.

[JVS]

56. I could see being lenient if he was breaking into houses and eating their food.

But that's not the case.

[vadawg]

58. worse is the dumb mother taking an unloaded gun into 7-11

i can guarentee thats a way to do a suicide by cop, the dudes real lucky he isnt 6 feet under.

[Dappleganger]

26. WTF?

There are plenty of people who don't resort to breaking the law when they don't have money.
Don't check your morals at the door.

[lame54]

28. maybe he can clean houses for a living

[gollygee]

31. What did this guy steal?

I get what you're saying. A friend's house was broken into and all that was stolen were blankets and warm socks. So she started packing stuff like that and food into bags and putting the bags on the front porch for whoever took the socks and blankets. Whoever it was passed by her TV, computer, ipod, etc., and must have been desperate for warmth.

But not all people who steal do so because they're in that kind of situation. Hopefully when people go into court that kind of thing is considered.

[Eryemil]

33. In a similar situation? Yes I would steal, maybe not for myself...

...but if my family depended on me I would do anything short of killing.

[dysfunctional press]

35. "WHAT ARE PEOPLE SUPPOSED TO DO????"

1. obey the law.
2. respect other people's rights and property.
3. respect yourself enough to follow through on points 1 & 2.

[Pavulon]

39. Not break into homes..

there are options, some are not good, but all are better than breaking into homes. What if he was just stealing to get crack?

[DeschutesRiver]

42. Loved Les Mis, but how about this burglar's options?

he could go to a food bank. He could get food stamps. He could go one of over thousands of churches and hook up with some help. He could file for unemployment. I'd need to know more facts about where this guy has been and what he has done before I try to guess whether he was desperate or just trouble. I too wish that all people were all good inside. But there are people who kill others with no remorse, there are people who light animals on fire for sport, there are people who control others to the point that they beat their kids senseless and yet resent those who try to come to their kids rescue. There are people who range from simply being "off" to being complete frigging sociopaths. My sympathy for the desperate who can't see a way out is not extendable to those other types that we have in society, who do the same thing but for their own reasons. If you are going out on a limb like this, you should acknowledge the possibility that the dude is a burglar because he prefers to earn a living that way. I know of people like that in my local community (and way back in the deep memory of certain family members). For some it isn't because they don't have a choice; it is their choice.

Besides, the Les Mis dude did not live in a society with any safety nets whatsoever, unlike our burglar friend here. Valjean did use the only safety net they had back then - he stayed with a priest who offered him shelter, food etc, but before he left he stole candlesticks and other stuff from him as well. What he did do right after that was help a ton of other people who ran into hard luck, and lived a life where he figured out how to pay it forward. Plus he kicked Javert's ass.

I'd bet that if this burglar had been caught stealing their food, rather than breaking and trashing their belongings, Mr. Adrian wouldn't have even made him clean up the wreckage. That is as fair a guess as guessing that this burglar's only problem was some kind of desperation over economic events.

[bobbolink]

63. Safety nets????????

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Actually, if you even read what I wrote, I wasn't even talking about this person specifically.

BUT.. if it makes you happier to judge, then be my guest.

When you someday find yourself in the same situation, like many of today's republicans, you may have to eat your words.

[DeschutesRiver]

64. I've seen that lazy logic before

when someone doesn't have a thoughtful answer, they just say "hey, someday this WILL HAPPEN TO YOU and then you'll be sorry." You best use that with someone who likes to respond to knee jerk statements intended as bait.

If it makes you happy to duck the issue like that, then be my guest. But there are arguments to be made on both sides of this, if you were so inclined to thinking it through. Obviously, that isn't the case.

ETA: Sorry for misunderstanding the content of your post and thanks for the attempt at clarifying it. It was kind of a wierdly stated post to weed through for actual content.

[bobbolink]

71. You're quite welcome to walk in my shoes.

And, those of thousands...even MILLIONS... of others.

IT's sooo very easy to judge.

Understanding doesn't seem to come naturally to many. :(

[bobbolink]

79. Oh, and rather than your own "LAZY", why don't you do some research about the reality of

"safety nets"... and see just exactly what exists, before you go judging, and calling someone who is on the very edge of survival "LAZY".

I'm soooo sick of this judgement shit from those of you who think you are sooooooo "Progressive"!!! Talk about LAZY!!!! Not have the compassion to care for those you consider beneath you is morally LAZY, not to mention reprehensible.

:puke:

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mitchum]

46. I don't think that recent scumbag was stealing loaves of bread

or does he also have an inalienable right to consumer electronics?

[JVS]

55. If this person had raided the fridge instead of looting the living room, there'd have been less....

to clean.

[littlebit]

57. So being poor

makes it ok to break the law? That's kind of a screwed up way of thinking.

[MadBadger]

66. This is a joke...right?

[varkam]

68. Lots of people are poor and hurting right now, and most of them aren't...

breaking into other people's homes and stealing their possessions. That's not to say that grinding poverty isn't a mitigating factor, but it seems that you're arguing for it as an excuse to culpability. Regardless of the reasons that lead people to commit crimes, they still ultimately make that decision...and have to live with the consequences.

[barb162]

80. Maybe it is better to sit and beg for money than rip off someone home?

Maybe it is better to find a shelter.

[Hoopla Phil]

8. Funny!

[book_worm]

15. The guy should be lucky, as the cop said, that the homeowner wasn't trigger happy

and he only had to clean up the mess he made instead of lying dead in the morgue. I only worry that once this guy gets out of jail he might decide to take revenge on the homeowner for embarrassing him.

[Captain Hilts]

17. Is this real? Did it make it to a news service?

[maddezmom]

23. I haven't been able to find the original souce

:shrug:

[janx]

19. Oh man, I was hoping that the burglar didn't only clean up what mess

he had made, but was given a broom, mop, etc. to actually CLEAN the home! :rofl:

That's what I would have done: "Clean up the mess you made, and then clean the house!"

[Warren DeMontague]

24. The weird thing is that you can't have a thread like this without someone taking the burglar's side.

:eyes:

Way to live up to the most ridiculous characterizations of "liberals" that the Right Wing noise machine can manufacture.

[bobbolink]

30. You might want to try reading Dickens, Victor Hugo, etc.

Especially, read the part of the Bishop at the beginning of Les Miserables.

Or, you can point and laugh at people who are trying to enlarge the discussion beyond laughing at someone YOU DON'T KNOW.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

32. Desperate people will do desperate things, and yes, as we sit here in our comfy homes,

keyboards at our fingers, we feel smug and sanctimonious. But if there are 100s of people lining up for one job and there's no food for yourself or family on the table, or perhaps not even a home to place a table, what does one do? I can foresee in the future people deliberately getting arrested just to have food and a roof over their heads.

[bobbolink]

51. "people deliberately getting arrested just to have food and a roof over their heads. "

That's already been documented, as a few posts, including one of mine, attest.

Yet, look how much joy some take in ridiculing me for asking ""progressives"" to take a more serious look.

Dickens, we're here. :grr:

Thank you for understanding. There is soooo much complaining about the attitudes of the RW, yet in many cases I see little difference in the attitudes of the "progressives". :cry:

[Warren DeMontague]

48. You don't even see any difference between stealing a loaf of bread off of a cart and breaking into

someone's home?

:shrug:

[gollygee]

49. Didn't he steal silver from the bishop's home at first?

He stole silver and got caught and the bishop said it was a gift and let him keep it. I think.

[bobbolink]

52. That was after he got out of prison. Yes, the bishop shows the true spirit

of Christianity, and what "progressives" used to emulate. I've seen the play many times, and that scene always brings me to tears. More so when I see the harsh words here!

Clearly, we are now taking our cues from the RW. :cry:

[Warren DeMontague]

65. Oh, FFS.

It's a fucking PLAY.

Let me diagram another scene for you, this time without the Broadway bullshit: You come home from a vacation, sometime, maybe with a little kid or two in tow, maybe late at night-- and someone is IN YOUR HOUSE. You don't know who they are, what they want, if they're a psychopath, what. As someone else noted, there's a reason they call it home invasion.. and for many people, the psychological impact is akin to nothing so much as rape. Yeah- in that moment, you're going to start thinking flowery thoughts about Victor Hugo, and not "what is this fucker doing in my house, what does he want, and is he going to harm my family".

What, exactly, were these homeowners supposed to do-- invite dude to stay for another week?

And if this guy was really just a poor, misunderstood example of desperate humanity, why did he need to trash the place he broke into? Hmmmmm? Couldn't he have shown a little more respect for the folks he was ripping off?

(Oh, I'm sorry, not 'the folks he ripping off', there's my middle class comfy couch entitlement creeping in, again.
I meant "the bourgeois suburban exploiters of the poor whom he was gracing with some awareness-raising via involuntary wealth redistribution". Of course.)

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

76. I'm a progressive, but people better not steal from me

I don't steal other people's stuff. I expect my stuff to not get stolen. How RW of me.

[Eryemil]

34. I just call it not being a hypocrite. As I wrote above I'd do the same and worse if...

...if I had children depending on me and such.

[TahitiNut]

36. I don't see anyone "taking the burglar's side."

What I see is a challenge to the social contract of "equal protection under the law."

It's easy to avoid examining the gross injustices of a society in which we have vacant housing being left vacant and allowed to deteriorate at the same time we have homeless people being evicted from "public" lands and dumped out of the sight of folks who don't want their commutes encumbered by the view of such 'indecorous' human beings.

It's easy to armor one's self with the supposition that "they deserve it" as we spend 50 hours a week kowtowing to a inept boss who encourages us to think we're part of a meritocracy.

It's easy to ignore the fact that we spend upwards of $40,000/year incarcerating more of our citizens than any nation on earth but spend far less on low-income housing for the underpaid and overworked homeless who abide by laws just enough to go without the 'home' we provide those who pose a greater threat to us.

I believe that the vast majority of our neighbors and fellow citizens are deterred from breaking the law out of a fear that they might lose their "vested interest" (employment, home, bank accounts, credit, etc.) in the largesse our economy offers to most but not all. But what happens when that "vested interest" is confiscated or foreclosed upon?? What remains to allow them to continue viewing this nation as "We The People" instead of "They The People"??

It's not only the most affluent who have won a "sperm lottery" and have their failures and mishaps caught by having an economic "safety net" of family - brothers, sisters, parents, aunts, uncles. (Where would George W. Bush be without being born into the Bush Cabal?) There are literally countless people who, after an illness, divorce, loss of job, or other economic calamity, have received assistance from family, including the opportunity to "live in their mother's basement" -- a hateful characterization if I've ever heard one. What happens to those who've encountered such calamities without the benefit of family?? (Count your blessings.)


I quite frankly have doubts that my "moral fiber" would impede me if, threatened by death in the cold streets and with nobody to turn to, I felt that it'd be worth my effort to break into a vacant house and steal warm clothing and items I might easily convert into cash. I just don't think I'm THAT "good" of a person. (I have even greater doubts of those who show no comprehension of desperation or compassion for those whose lives are filled with it.)

[Pavulon]

38. Stealing food from a store, maybe

breaking into a home is a massive invasion of privacy and as the LEO mentioned not a very safe undertaking.

There are many people who are homeless or poor who do not break the law. At no point did the article say the person was poor. Maybe they just wanted jewelry and guns to sell for crack or just straight cash.

[vadawg]

41. like any criminal enterprise as long as the homeless understand the rules

if you break into someones home then the chances are they are going to shoot you, you may not care but as someone who has to work the justified homicide id rather you go get help from charity. Its much better for all concerned in the end.

[TahitiNut]

44. Maybe. Maybe not.

Like I say, it's easy to armor our conscience with conjecture and supposition. (Perhaps our fears drive us to do so.) At the same time, the FACTS I cited are not arguable. We have a long way to go to get close to economic and social JUSTICE - and I don't believe any government (and system of laws) is morally legitimate or defensible without JUSTICE.

[Warren DeMontague]

50. Right, but this thread is about someone who broke into someone else's house.

NOT about homeless people- some of whom I'm been rather close to, including a near relative who was homeless for a couple years- being evicted from public lands and NOT about the unjustly incarcerated, many of whom (as I mentioned upthread) are in jail not for breaking & entering, but for non-violent drug offenses. Idiocy, in most examples of both cases IMHO.

But before you get too certain about those of us sitting at our "comfy couches" or whatnot; look, Jack, you don't know me. I spent years working at or just above minimum wage. I know what it's like to barely scrape by. I didn't win some fucking "sperm lottery". But I do know that there is a difference between homelessness and outright criminality. When you break into someone else's home, I'm sorry, I don't care what the "justification" is, you are endangering the people who live there and you are endangering yourself. Like the cop said, he's lucky he didn't get shot.

You don't see anyone taking the burglar's side? That's funny. By my count, about 12 other posters including myself caught exactly that inference.

[TahitiNut]

59. We know almost NOTHING about the burglar.

As I've REPEATEDLY said, we engage in supposition and conjecture, often to armor our consciences against "things that go bump in the night."

We've had folks in denial of any possibility that this man was homeless and needy. We've had folks claim it makes no difference. And we've had folks offer the POSSIBILITY that he's homeless.

I contend that we're asking for a melt-down .... and BLAMING people without consideration for the circumstances and attention to the conditions which WE CREATE in our nation is sheer ignorance and foolishness.

But go ahead and pretend it's Disneyland and the mean streets of Anaheim are for "them."

:shrug:

[vadawg]

60. we do know hes a burglar and that should be enough

unless you think theres any valid reason for him to be stealing shit from other people.

[dustbunnie]

61. The homeless and the needy will steal food and clothing. Sometimes money.

They don't move in for a week, leaving trash all over the place and wrecking someone's home. Jean Valjean certainly didn't behave this way.

In this case, the burglar had either squatted there or kept coming back to vandalize the place while the homeowners were gone. How would you like to come home to find a stranger in your home. As a woman it would scare the hell out of me, and I doubt I would recover for months. Having my home vandalized would be disconcerting as well. I wouldn't have any empathy for anyone who do such a thing to me. I would however, feel terrible for someone who came into my home once to take food or a warm coat (unless if it was my favorite jacket).

This burglar doesn't really deserve anything more than he got.

[bobbolink]

53. "I quite frankly have doubts that my "moral fiber" would impede me "

Exactly! Morally mature people see our commonalities, and our frailties.

Morally mature people say "There but for the Grace of God go I", rather than sit in judgement.

I'm very sad to see all the judging from one simple question, which should have sparked some insightful DEMOCRATIC, PROGRESSIVE dialogue, rather than judgmental hatred.

"Who ARE we?" Michael Moore.

[vadawg]

54. problem is it may not be moral fiber that stops you, it may my .40cal hollowpoints

this is my problem with people thinking its acceptable to break into others homes. If i come home and someone is in my home, im assuming the worst and defending myself.

[Kablooie]

40. You realize that this does support the view that citizens need to own guns.

[Shakespeare]

62. For those sympathetic to the burglar: being the victim of a crime like this is not too far removed..

...from rape.

There's a reason it's call "home invasion." This isn't just about somebody taking your material belongings--it's a form of violation that intrudes on something very personal and primal (your home, your shelter, your refuge). Those of us who've been victims of a burglary--especially single women--know how terrifying it really is, even if no one is physically harmed.

No, I don't feel sorry for the burglar.

[varkam]

69. Well, I don't think it's an either or proposition...

I think you can feel sympathetic to the burglar's position while simultaneously condemning his act.

[LostinVA]

75. Exactly -- this isn't the same as stealing food because you're hungry

I think it's HYSTERICAL the homeowners did that!

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

77. God, you're such a freeper

Don't you know you're supposed to give away your stuff to burglers, because they might have less than you.

[Cid_B]

67. Im probably in the "anybody else" category

"But the police officer laughed at Bullock when he complained and told him that anybody else would have shot him dead."

[Renew Deal]

72. lol

:rofl:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

78. Isn't that felony kidnapping?

[-..__...]

81. Times are tough...

that a poor crack, meth addict has to break into peoples homes to feed his habit.

Why all this assumption that the perps motive had anything to do with the economy, food, homelessness, hard times, etc?