In the original post's situation where the intruder is on their way out, no, I would not shoot. Possessions aren't worth it. Things can be replaced, but if someone breaks in and either my wife and I do not know their intent, you can bet they are getting lit up. I was always taught that in such situations, shoot first, ask questions later and to shoot to kill. I would also be 100% sure of my target as well. No use blindly shooting in the dark.

We own many firearms and both my wife and I are very proficient with them. Luckily we have never had to fire a single shot.

We briefly lived in the ghetto in Abilene, Texas a few years ago and we had a series of break-ins in our apartment (no valuables, just my wife's intimates, pictures of her and a bunch of liquor). Luckily all but one of these were when we weren't home. She did have one man kick in the door when she was home and she drew a pistol that was sitting next to her and the man instantly turned tail and ran. Smartest move he ever made. That was the final straw for us. We flew my brother in law in from out of state the next day to help us move and we were gone by day 3 on the way to our new lives here in Ohio. Enough was enough.

We also lived in a duplex owned by my in-laws which shared a common laundry room. My father in law locked himself out of their half of the duplex one night and walked into our half without knocking (this was right after we moved in). We were asleep at the time. He got a little red dot in the center of his chest and he very quickly announced his presence. He never did that again.