Lawrence County Sheriff Ryan Everett issued a double warning Thursday morning in a Facebook post.

The first warning was to property owners, and the second to burglars.

“Lawrence County Residents: Do not leave your vehicles unlocked or leave items of value in them,” Everett wrote on his personal page, then shared it on the official Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office page. “Over the weekend, and last night there have been multiple reports of vehicles at residences that have been burglarized. Firearms, cash and other items have been reported stolen.”

The second warning was to “area thugs,” the sheriff said. Everett bluntly said he wanted homeowners or vehicle owners to shoot and kill burglars if they were caught in the act.

“Your luck will run out. You will break into the wrong house or vehicle, and someone is going to shoot you. If that’s not plain enough, allow me to rephrase: Someone will unalive you with their pew pew. That is exactly what I want them to do. It sends a loud and clear message and makes my job a whole lot easier. If you value someone else’s property more than you value your life, you deserve what you get,” he wrote.

“You’re going to do what you’re going to do. A man or woman with an obligation to protect themselves, their family and property is going to do what they’re going to do. We will show up, take pictures, ask a few questions, tell your mother that we’re sorry for her loss and move on to the next thing. It’s that plain and simple,” wrote Everett.

Mississippi law (97-3-15) states that “the killing of a human being” is justifiable “in resisting” another person from committing a felony in the immediate premises of a dwelling, vehicle, or place of business/employment that is occupied by the person using lethal force.

According to the Castle Doctrine in Mississippi, if an intruder enters a person’s property without consent and the property owner uses reasonable force to remove them, the owner is not legally liable for any injury they sustain in the process. A person is allowed to use defensive force when someone else has entered or is in the process of forcibly entering their legally occupied dwelling or building on the property, according to HP Attorneys PLLC.

Any degree of force, including deadly, is permitted as long as a person is attempting to defend their personal space and/or are facing potential imminent death or great bodily harm if they do not do so. Civilians are able to use lethal force by hand or weapon to defend against a person trying to commit a felony attack on them or someone else — such as murder, assault or rape, according to the Castle Doctrine.

It is unclear if Sheriff Everett’s instructions are covered by these laws.