On Thanksgiving Day of 2012, Bryon David Smith, a retired security-engineering officer with the US State Department, walked solemnly and silently into his basement, sat down with a rifle, and waited. The house was dark, and he had taking the extra step of hiding his truck so that it appeared he wasn’t home. His home had been burglarized several times in the past few months, and Byron had enough. It was time to take matters into his own hands. As he sat there, two teenagers, aged 17 and 18, started to circle the property, making sure that no one was there before then broke in, while Smith lay in wait. Chaos ensued – glass shattering, screaming, and then…gunshots. Byron Smith had shot and killed both of the teens, and then, after all had gone quiet, he was heard saying “I refuse to live in fear. I am not a bleeding-heart liberal. I felt like I was cleaning up a mess…I was doing my civic duty…I don’t see them as human. I see them as vermin.”