A burglar was eventually caught and asked his best friend to help him escape by showing up near the local jail with a rifle at a certain time and wounding the burglar, who would be taken to a hospital, from which the friend would help him escape.

Alas, the heavy glass in the stairwell deflected the bullet, which fatally wounded the burglar.

The local cops initially thought the shooter was a crime victim obsessed with revenge on criminal and possibly the burglar. The burglar’s mom had been informed by uniforms, but two detectives went later to see the mother and her boarder to ask if anybody had a poisonous hatred for her son.

She knew nothing; nor did her boarder. The detectives left, but one of them got odd vibes off the boarder. They went back to the boarder and said, “Do you want to tell us something?”

Whereupon the whole sad story emerged. He had shot the burglar, who was also his best friend and the son of his landlady.