Studies indicate that firearms are used over two million times a year for personal protection, and that the presence of a firearm, without a shot being fired, prevents crime in many instances. Shooting usually can be justified only where crime constitutes an immediate imminent threat to life limb or in some cases property.
A Twin Cities area man, bloodied from one home invasion in far northern Minnesota, was fatally shot at a second home after gaining entry and assaulting the elderly homeowner, authorities said Monday. Benjamin Beaudoin, 34, of Mendota Heights attacked the 72-year-old woman who owned the home near Ray, Minn., and was shot by her son, according to the Koochiching County Sheriff’s Office. “I’m the son who did what had to be done,” said Brad Himes, 48, who came to the rescue of his mother, Ethel. (Star Tribune, MN, July 28, 2014)
It all started when Jacquella Lattimore left the house to take her children to camp. Police say she was accosted by three men who were trying to force her back into the house at gunpoint. What the intruders apparently didn’t know is that Lattimore’s fiancé, Johnny Bridges, was watching from the window with his gun. (WEWS-TV Cleveland, OH, 07/16/2013)
A shootout in the Sharpstown area sent at least one suspect to a hospital. Police say three men stormed the house and forced the homeowner into a closet, but that’s where he gained the upper hand. They didn’t look in the closet, because that’s where he keeps his guns. Police were told the homeowner thought the men had left after a few minutes. He went downstairs, armed just in case. (KTRK-TV Houston, TX, 05/15/2013)
An Lacomb-area resident armed with a shotgun caught a burglar in his shop early Friday morning and held the suspect at gunpoint until deputies arrived. (Albany Democrat-Herald, 03/23/2013)
A suspected burglar is dead after being shot by a homeowner in Albertville on Abbott Road. Police said the homeowner had been having problems with someone burglarizing his rental home, so he stayed in the home Tuesday night, and someone broke into the house. Investigators said 41-year-old Jamison Lynn Lacey was killed trying to break into the home. Police say the homeowner is not being charged. (WSFA Channel 12, 03/13/2013)
A boy bound during a Wednesday home invasion grabbed a gun and sent the suspects fleeing in an incident in Webster that police said involved two sexual assaults and an abandoned murder plot. Police in Dickinson ultimately detained two men, but Webster police didn’t immediately release the names of the suspects, pending formal charges. (Galveston Daily News, 03/07/2013)
Family fights back when 3 gunmen storm their home – A 21-year-old man sprang into action to protect his family Thursday night when three suspects barged into their northwest Harris County home. The young man as home with his mother and father in the 3900 block of Brook Garden when the armed men forced their way into the house around 8 p.m., according to Harris County Sheriff’s deputies. The family was in the middle of baking a cake, when there was a knock at the door. “I see a young boy and I think it is a friend of my son so I open it a little bit,” the father explained. “These guys push and out comes two more, they push me on the ground.” After the father was down, the suspects went after the mother. That is when the son ran and got his dad’s gun. He opened fire and hit one of the suspects, who died in the back bedroom. The other two suspects fled the scene. (KHOU.com Channel 11, Houston, Texas, 02/23/2013)
12-Year-Old Girl Shoots Intruder During Home Invasion In Bryan County – During that time, the intruder made his way through the house. St. Clair’s daughter told deputies the man came into the room where she was hiding and began to open up the closet door. That was when the 12 year old had to make a life-saving decision. (NEWS9, Bryan County, OK, 10/18/2012)
Police say 28-year-old Cyrus Brown drove off the road and hit a utility pole on Portage. He then attempted to break into a nearby home. When police arrived, they found an elderly female named Sandra holding the driver at gunpoint, awaiting their arrival. Sandra tells us she was scared to death and yelled at Brown to stay down. She says he begged her not to shoot. (WNDU News, South Bend, IN, 01/04/2009)
Shocked onlookers watched as a vehicle careened across a mall parking lot, nearly striking a tree. Inside, a man was savagely beating his girlfriend as she screamed for help. While others stood by and watched, a 27-year-old man with a concealed carry permit ran to the woman’s aid, drew a Glock semi-automatic pistol and shouted at her boyfriend to end the assault. The boyfriend saw the gun and promptly complied. Police praised the armed citizen’s actions. “For all we know, he could have saved her from serious injury,” said Police Captain Norman Colyer. “I’m going to call him and tell him that when he gets ready to renew his [concealed carry] license, it’s on me.” (News-Telegram, Sulphur Springs, TX, 10/15/09)
Police say Peter Gilmore was enjoying a visit with his son, James McGlone, when two armed men with stockings over their faces kicked open the front door. One of the suspects held a knife to Gilmore’s throat and threatened to kill him. McGlone ran for the bedroom while the other suspect, armed with a tire iron, gave chase. The suspect may have assumed McGlone was running away, but he soon learned McGlone was arming himself. McGlone retrieved one of his father’s pistols, aimed it at his assailant and told him to leave. Instead, the suspect struck him with the tire iron. McGlone fired a single shot, wounding the suspect, who fled with his accomplice. (Herald Tribune, Sarasota, FL, 10/26/09)
He may be only 13 years old, but police say two burglars proved no match for Josh Cichy. He had just arrived home to what should have been an unoccupied house, but something wasn’t right. “I walked down the hall and I saw two guys at the door and window,” Cichy explains. He took fast action, grabbing a powerful spotlight, an air pistol and a 20-ga. shotgun. First, he blinded the intruders with the spotlight and shot at them with the air gun, hitting one. “I think I got him right in the face,” Cichy recalls. Then he fired the shotgun and the intruders fled the home. Cichy says he’s familiar with firearms, thanks to his father. “I go hunting with my dad and friends, so I know what to do. I wasn’t really scared, but at the end I was shaking because of the adrenalin, I guess.” (Kalamazoo Gazette, Kalamazoo, MI, 10/02/09)
Three thieves apparently weren’t aware of David Massey’s successful track record of repelling burglars from his rural home. Massey has had several burglary attempts at his home, including one in 2008 when he fired at one suspect and held another for police. In the latest incident, police say Massey discovered two women and a man breaking into his home and confronted them with a handgun. The suspects leapt into an SUV and hurtled toward Massey. “They drove right across the center of the [driveway] circle towards me … I was in fear of my life,” Massey said. “They wouldn’t stop, so I shot.” Massey fired six shots in the direction of the vehicle’s radiator. The vehicle veered out of control, missing Massey by mere feet and rolling onto its side. The suspects fled the vehicle and were arrested by police nearby. “I moved out here for the serenity,” said Massey, who’s determined to keep the home despite the burglaries. “I don’t know how serene it is today.” (Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, CA, 09/29/09)
The robber who burst inside a food market waving a gun seemed surprised to find eight shoppers inside. He ordered everyone to the floor, firing shots into the customers’ direction and twice shooting store owner Mustapha Kassou. Police say that’s when a man with a concealed-carry permit leapt to his feet and drew his .45-cal. Colt revolver. He told the robber to drop the gun. When the robber didn’t comply, the armed citizen shot him, took his gun and held him for police. Onlookers encouraged the armed citizen to shoot the robber again, but he kept his cool and exercised better judgment. Kassou is recovering from his injuries. “[The armed citizen] saved a lot of lives,” he said. “He was like an angel who came to save everybody.” (Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Va., 07/15/09)
An intoxicated man got into a fight with his girlfriend as she was driving him home from a comedy club. He demanded to be let out of the vehicle and his girlfriend complied. He walked to a rural residence and pounded on the door, claiming to be a police officer who wanted to ask them a question. When that didn’t work, he said he had a knife and would stab the home’s occupants. The male homeowner replied he had a gun, and he would shoot the suspect if he came inside. “The only smart decision he made was not to enter that home,” Johnson County, Ind., Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Doug Cox said. “He’s alive today because he didn’t enter that house.” Police found the suspect stumbling down the road. He told officers he would beat them up and claimed to be an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation looking into a crime. Police checked with the FBI – the suspect is not an agent. (WISH-TV, Indianapolis, Ind., 08/13/09)
When a masked man armed with a shotgun burst into Sam’s St. Johns Seafood restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida, and announced a robbery, diners Oscar Moore and Robert Guerry were spurred to action. As the man held terrified patrons hostage and demanded that a waitress open the cash register, Moore and Guerry, both armed with .22cal. pistols, opened fire, hitting the robber several times. The suspect fled but was later apprehended and charged with armed robbery. Moore said, “Somewhere along the line, we the people have to start protecting ourselves.” (The Times-Union, Jacksonville, FL, 09/24/97)
Criminal justice instructor Michael Minto was exiting the Kaplan Career Institute when he saw a man being viciously stabbed. According to police, Minto ran onto the scene, drew a handgun for which he has a permit to carry and ordered the attacker to drop the knife. The suspect fled. The victim was treated and released from the hospital. “[If not for Minto], we might be talking about someone who died,” said Swatara Township, Pa., Deputy Police Chief Jason Umberger. “There are not many citizens out there that would have the courage to take that action.” (The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, PA, 12/08/09)
Evil people who would prey on the weaknesses of others may perceive someone like Gary Wroblewski, who uses a wheelchair, as an easy victim. Wroblewski, however, is a man who takes his safety seriously, so when he had a late knock at his door, he grabbed his handgun. “I was suspicious,” he recalls. “I didn’t really want to open it, but I did.” He found the man who knocked, but then a masked man with a history of violent arrests leapt from the bushes and knocked over Wroblewski’s chair. “He hit the door and I went tumbling over and just pulled the gun up and started firing,” Wroblewski explains. The intruder was killed. His accomplice fled the scene. (WKMG-TV, Orlando, FL, 12/15/09)
Police say a perpetrator knocked on Harold Compenstine’s door, announced, “This is a robbery!” and put a shotgun in his face. The homeowner slammed the door on the suspect and yelled for a relative to get his gun. The suspect fled, but decided to risk his luck again. He knocked on the door of another home and again pointed a shotgun at the residents inside. One of the residents ran for his own gun and for the second time in one night the suspect had to run rather than face an armed citizen. The suspect remains at large. No word on whether he’s given thought to changing career paths. (Sun-Star, Merced, CA, 12/10/09)
With a gun to his face, a Pizza Hut cashier stashed several hundred dollars into a bag. Hearing the commotion, police say a deliveryman with a concealed-carry permit crouched in the back of the store. When the robber walked toward him, the deliveryman gave a verbal warning. Instead the robber went for his gun, forcing the deliveryman to draw his 9mm handgun and fire a shot. The robber will be arrested pending his release from the hospital. (The Herald Bulletin, Anderson, IN, 12/24/09)
When a woman knocked on the door, Donald Kaighn – an NRA member, World War II veteran and gun collector – opened it. Her car had broken down so Kaighn allowed the woman inside to use the phone, a favor she returned by spraying the 84-year-old’s face with lighter fluid and hitting him in the head with the can. Kaighn grabbed a Colt .32-cal. pistol while his assailant ran upstairs. He confronted her. “She said something like ‘Stop or I’ll shoot,’” Kaighn explained. “I immediately fired the gun.” The woman briefly returned fire before leaping from the second story window with some of Kaighn’s possessions. “I’m a member of the NRA and I subscribe to its policy of not being a victim,” Kaighn said. “I don’t want to hurt anybody.” (WPVI ABC6, Philadelphia, PA, 12/01/09)
Police say a nude 91-year-old Robert Thompson and his Rottweiler mix, Rett, were alarmed when they saw a prowler on the back porch trying to get into their home. “I started to let [Rett] out the door, and he was so anxious he got caught in the door,” said Thompson, a Purple Heart World War II veteran. Rett pounced on the suspect and held him down. Thompson ran inside to call 9-1-1 and get his gun. Upon his return, Rett released the suspect, who tried to get up and charge Thompson. The suspect changed his tune when the veteran fired a shot, narrowly missing him. “I think the guy was scared to death. He was screaming,” said Thompson, who held the suspect for police. “If anyone violates my home they better be careful, that’s all I got to say,” he said. (News-Herald, Panama City, FL, 11/19/09)
Four days after the Deadmon family experienced a home invasion, the robbers returned. Police say two of the suspects confronted the son, John-Ross, in the garage. They told him they were after his father and dragged him inside the home. John-Ross broke free as his father, Randy, arrived with a gun. “They told my husband they had come back to kill him because we had reported [the robbery],” Sherry Deadmon said. John-Ross grabbed a shotgun the family kept ready since the first invasion. Father and son fired several shots, wounding one of the suspects. The intruders fled the home and were arrested by police. “This time they were ready for them,” said Detective Chad Moose of the local sheriff’s office. (Salisbury Post, Salisbury, NC, 10/31/09)
It was just after 5 a.m. when Graham Ricks awoke to loud noises and realized someone was breaking the back door. “I always wondered, ‘Was I going to be able to do what I needed to do if someone came in the house?’” Ricks recalls. He was about to find out. Police say he called 9-1-1, obtained a firearm and crouched behind a wall as the intruder jostled the door open. “He turned towards me and I saw he had a gun and I fired,” Ricks said. The suspect fled the home, possibly injuring himself as he jumped from the porch. (WKYT CBS27, Lexington, KY, 11/01/09)
Dave Strickland arrived home to find his belongings in disarray and an unknown vehicle in his garage. He quickly retrieved his handgun and shouted for anyone in the house to identify themselves. What happened next is truly bizarre. According to police, a man came around the corner wearing only Strickland’s boxer shorts. Strickland told the intruder he was going to call police and the “guy started ranting about him being the owner of the home and how he was going to come down here and kick me out of the house.”The suspect made an aggressive move toward Strickland, who fired a shot and held the suspect for police. (KCNC CBS4, Denver, CO, 11/17/09)
Nathan Brown remembers, “I heard three distinct bangs like someone was kicking in my door. It wasn’t like a knock, it was emotionally charged. It scared me.” Brown was especially frightened for his 2-year-old daughter, who was sleeping in a back room. Police say Brown got his gun and ordered whoever was on the other side of the door to go away. Two men shouted back and one of them broke the door’s lock and charged inside. “I said, ‘Stop, I’ll shoot you!” Brown recalls, but the men pressed on. “That’s when I shot.” Both intruders fled. Police found one of them nearby suffering from a gunshot wound. A full-time student and single father, Brown recently bought his first firearm out of security concerns. “I don’t feel safe here, which is why I bought the guns in the first place,” he said. (KPTV FOX12, Portland, OR, 11/27/09)
Lamont Ferdinand, 21, of the 7700 block of South Wolcott, was charged Saturday with aggravated assault to a peace officer and residential burglary, police said. Shots were fired at 9:03 a.m. in the 7600 block of South Vernon Avenue Friday, according to police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli. An off-duty officer fired shots at three people and may have struck one, Independent Police Review Authority spokesman Curtis Tarver said. Ferdinand showed up with a gunshot wound to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County with bullets that were matched to the officer’s gun and he was charged Saturday, police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro said. (Chicago Sun-Times 03/27/2010)
An 80-year-old Army veteran shot and killed an armed man who’d broken in to the two-flat where he and his wife live in East Garfield Park early this morning and fired at him. (Salt Lake Examiner 05/27/2010)
Burglar Messes with Wrong Dude – Iraq war veteran holds would-be robber at gunpoint until police arrive (Fox News 07/16/2011)
Hotel clerk kills Orangeburg robber – A small woman in her 50s working as a hotel clerk at a Columbia area Days Inn shot and killed a robber “more than double her size” Monday morning, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said. The man, Vincent Carson, 43, of Orangeburg, had held a knife to her throat, put the knife down and was apparently going to tie her up and sexually assault her… (TheState.com 07/25/2011)
A Freemansburg Pennsylvania police officer, was shot dead by a man who ordered him not to come on his property unless he obtained a warrant. The officer disregarded the man’s order and entered the property anyway. The officer then proceeded to wave his gun in the man’s face. The man’s dogs then went after the officer. The officer was then ordered by his Sergeant to shoot man’s the dogs. The man responded by shooting the officer with his shotgun to protect his dogs. (AlexanderHiggins.com)
Police in Fort Wayne say a man told them he shot and killed a man who he said kicked in the door to his apartment. City police spokesman Officer John Chambers tells The Journal Gazette that the resident said the intruder had a gun when he burst into the first-floor apartment in a complex on the city’s east side Thursday night. Chambers says the resident shot the man, who then ran away for a short distance before collapsing. He died shortly after being taken to a hospital. Chambers tells WANE-TV that the resident had the legal right to shoot an intruder if he acted in acting in self-defense. (WDRB – Apr 13, 2012)
Henry Guyton said he was in the pulpit, preaching about how Jesus spoke the word of God and healed the sick, when Gates kicked open the side door of the sanctuary and entered with the shotgun, pointing it at the pastor and congregation. Church members, including Aaron Guyton, a concealed weapons permit holder, acted quickly. (Goupstate.com – March 25, 2012)
