There’s another aspect raised by this story, which hasn’t been mentioned yet. If our resident shooter had remained behind the cover of the car in his driveway, if he had been able to see any perpetrator whom he reasonably believed was about to shoot at him again, and kept his eyes open while he shot at that perpetrator, but unfortunately missed, he would likely be facing no charges. However, if the shot which missed had traveled on to cause damage to an uninvolved person, that person could likely prevail in a lawsuit against our resident shooter to recover the cost of repair, even if our resident shooter was in no way negligent. If you think about this some, you might recognize that, as between the shooter and the uninvolved person who was damaged, it’s the shooter who should rightfully pay for the repair.
As to damage to property from return fire, states differ on that. So long as the shooting is justified, some states nullify liability (on the part of the justified shooter) for property damage that results.
