It's been a few days. I'm unable to determine if the criminal has been nabbed.

An Old Vet

Imagine being awakened at midnight by a crazed drunk trying to break into your home. Imagine you have never fired a shotgun before, but your son has one in the home. You call 911 and the police are on the way when the drunk uses a patio chair to shatter the glass door at the rear of your home.



"Riley had stepped across the back patio threshold and into the kitchen," said Lincoln County Sheriff Chuck Mangion. "His motivations are unclear from this investigation," Mangion said. "He went over a fence with a locked gate and he had to fight off a dog once he got in the yard, so I doubt he was looking for help," Mangion said. "I doubt that (getting help) was his motivation." Riley's sister was passed out from drugs and alcohol in his car. Riley himself had convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol as well as a possession of marijuana conviction.

District Attorney Richard Smothermon issued a ruling yesterday that Donna Jackson had the legal authority to shoot and kill Billy Dean Riley about 12:40 a.m. on December 12, 2009. Smothermon has declined to file any criminal charges against her.

All I can say is good shoot Ms. Jackson. I'm sorry you were forced to take these measures, but I am glad you had the resolve to defend yourself. I'm glad too, that you had a gun that allowed you to overcome a threat to your life. Thank you Mr. Smothermon.



The entire 911 call below:

Run the Gun You Have

Will a single shot .410 turn around a threat?

Shot in the Foot

"We get robbed here all the time, we're used to it living in this neighborhood," said a Houston homeowner who shot a burglar through his bedroom window on October 16, 2009.

"I shot him, but I shot him on his foot. I didn't want to shoot him in the chest or head or anything, he was five feet away from me, I could have shot him between the eyes but I didn't want to kill him," said the homeowner.



I'm not one for armchair quarterbacking a man who has been forced to defend himself, and I understand that in Texas, you can shoot to defend property, but there is so much to think about concerning this story...........

A Cornered Cat

The Cornered Cat

A Gun in the Home

Imagine being a ten year old boy home alone with your eight year old sister. There is a knock at the door. You tell your sister to be quiet. The knock becomes more insistent, and ultimately two grown thugs kick your door in.

That is what happened at a Port Allen, Louisiana apartment complex. The boy and his sister ran to hide in a closet. The home invaders quickly gave chase. They snatched open the closet door, pouring a blinding light on the trembling children.

But the ten year old boy had grabbed his mother's handgun as he closed the closet door behind himself and his sister. Because that handgun was in that home, two children are alive and well, and two armed criminals who would assault and quite probably kill without remorse are behind bars. Their juvenile get-away driver is in jail as well.


In case this video feed ever goes down, the boy shot one of the criminals, Roderick Porter, in the mouth with the handgun. Porter and his accomplice, Dean Favron, turned tail and ran from the armed adolescent. They did not run because they changed their mind about hurting children. They were not reformed. They had no religious conversion. No, the epithany they had was that the boy they had threatened had the means and the willingness to kill them dead, to place them rotting in their graves if they did not retreat. That is why they ran. The boy's willingness came from his resolve to live and protect his sister. The means came from the gun his mother kept in the home.

This home invasion occured in a part of town that is not exactly economically privileged. Chances are, the gun was an inexpensive type, such as a Hi Point or possibly even a Raven or Bryco. The type of handgun used is not important. The thing is, the gun was there, a boy was willing to use it to save lives, and the handgun worked. Tonight, in Baton Rouge Louisiana, three violent armed criminals are in jail awaiting trial because of that boy and that gun. In Port Allen, a mother tucks her children into bed and thanks God she had a gun in the home.

Paul Helmke, put that in your pipe and smoke it.

A Comment to comment On

A quick note: this is not my story. It appeared in my comments, and I thought it deserved a more prominent place on the blog. It was obviously written shortly after the occurrence, when the adrenaline was still coursing through the writer's veins. I have reproduced it here as it was in my comments. Follow the links to the gentleman's blog for more.

Xavier -- First time I had to draw my gun in self defense tonight. just posted at Infidel Bloggers Alliance:

TERRIFYING
I've never had to draw my gun in potential self defense.

Until tonight.

11:30 p.m. EST I'm in the family room watching 300. Daughter #3 (11 yr old) fell asleep on living room floor watching a DVD. Her mom dozing off on the couch. Daughter # 2 (21 yr old) in her bedroom getting ready for bed.

Front door is mostly closed but open enough to let cool night air in until my own bedtime.

Daughter #1's Good Infidel Dog (feisty little fox/rat terrier) is visiting for a couple weeks while said daughter is taking late night classes in Philly.

Suddenly that dog goes absolutely apeshit.

Groggy wife thinks he needs to go out and do his thing. Leashes him up, opens the door. . .

and is face to face with someone getting ready to come in. As she describes him a light skinned male wearing a hoodie with hood up. Best look she can get in the dark.

She let's out an "Oh Jesus Christ!" and slams the door. Daughter # 2, who came to the living room when she heard the dog, screams at the top of her lungs. Daughter # 3 keeps sleeping.

People, this is where training with your weapon, rehearsing in your mind over and over again what you would do if this then that comes into play.

I'm out of my lazy boy, drawing my gun from my hip (ok, for those of you who want the details, tonight it was a Smith & Wesson 642 Airweight loaded with Cor-Bon 38 SPec. +P hollowpoints coming from a Don Hume J.I.T. Slide Holster). Up the steps my arm clearing the stairs wall gun eye level pointed at the front door.

There's my wife and daughter, screaming and staring at the closed door.

For anyone who has heard that in such a situation you get extreme tunnel vision let me assure you it is true. My focus is on that door, wife & daughter just to the side.

Training training training.

No apparent threat gun still drawn right to the bedroom flip on the light. Dammit missed the switch knocked the cover off the thermostat (more training needed) grab the shotgun (again -- for those of you detail minded - Remington 870 Wingmaster 20 gauge pump action 22 inch barrel loaded with Remington #3 buckshot). Back to the living room.

All in under 10 seconds.

My wife calls 911, since we don't know exactly where the foiled intruder has gone nor whether he had any friends lurking nearby. The police are here within 5 minutes, take the information, don't question the gun on my belt, and tell us there had been a breakin across the highway a little earlier this evening. They will be patrolling the area.

So. Lessons learned/reinforced:

Know your weapons, Know where they are and how to get to them. Go over it again and again in your head. If this then that. Practice drawing them until it becomes reflexive.

Despite their quick response a gun in the hand is STILL worth more than a cop on the phone.

Be prepared to pull that trigger. Strangely I felt no fear during the incident and knew I was ready, had I seen someone within my home, to counter that threat. Of course the adreneline rush I'm experiencing right now is like no high you can get from any drug. Might be awhile before I can get to sleep.

Little dogs making big noise are worth a million bucks.

Can't stress the training enough. I remember when I first handled a sidearm, shaking as I tried to load it. Now it's second nature. But had I just bought a gun and never practiced with it I would have been far less useful in this instance.

Gun control statistics are bullshit. This is one drawn gun incident that will never be reported as such because no shots were fired. How many more like this for every time a shot is fired in self defense?

In truth, my wife was the one who scared off the perp, though we didn't know it at the time. She did exactly the right thing by slamming the door, screaming and getting my attention. But it could have played out far differently with a more determined intruder. Might not have had time to get to the shotgun.

In the house, that sidearm on your belt is your first defense but also primarily intended to buy you time to get to something far more substantial if possible.

In an event like this, pandemonium and chaos will ensue.

The rest here.

Ten Lives, One Will

In College Park, Georgia, two masked thugs crashed a party carrying guns. The home invaders immediately separated the men from the women and demanded wallets and cell phones. Then the two began counting bullets, and one ominously stated he had enough for everybody there. “Apparently, his intent was to rape and murder us all,” said student Charles Bailey.

One of the men held hostage decided he intended to survive. He pulled a gun from a backpack and shot at the criminal guarding the men. The criminal fled. The righteous defender then advanced to the room where the women were being held and found Calvin Lavant preparing to rape one of the women. The defender again began shooting, telling the women to get down. One woman was injured in the barrage of bullets, and Calvin Lavant lept out a window. He was found dead from a gunshot wound near his own apartment, one building away. The injured woman is expected to make a full recovery.

This sounds like a good story, but there are lessons to be learned. First, there were over-penetration issues. This was in an apartment complex. Lady Luck smiled on the defender.

Next, out of ten people, only one had the courage to act. The thugs had the audacity to count bullets in front of their victims. If the reports are true, there was opportunity for unarmed resistance. Five to one.

Finally, a gun was available, but training was apparently lacking. The defender reverted to the spray and pray technique of home defense. He obviously got off shots in time on the first criminal. The second criminal was also caught with his pants down, literally. Whether the defender's intent was to scare off the attackers with an expensive and dangerous noise maker, or whether it was to take a permanent bite out of crime, he could have used more training and education in lethal force and self defense.

But the righteous defender lived. So did all his friends. He was there, I was not. He saw that big gray pachyderm, grabbed it by its trunk and body slammed it across the arena with all his might. He found the will to save lives while his friends succumbed to fear and intimidation. The defender found the foundation that everyone who carries a gun should possess. He found the will under crisis to use a gun to save his life and the lives of others. That is the one element that remains an unknown for many who carry a gun.

The decision to live must be made when the gun is strapped on. The training must be done before the crisis comes. In the crisis, we will all revert back to our level of training........ If we have the will to live.

Thunder Ranch on Home Defense

Good points, especially the last one. Might have to take a look......

Conclusions?

In November 2007, Kenneth Batchelor began recieving threatening telephone calls from a dope smoking body builder demanding money. Matthew Clements, a pub bouncer, was the culprit. Clements was well known to police. He had a history of settling disputes with violence. He had once threatened a garage manager with an Uzi submachine gun. He had become obsessed with an imagined debt owed him by the Batchelor family.

On November 18, 2007, Kenneth Batchelor's worst nightmare came true. At 1:00 AM, after informing Mr. Batchelor that he was "coming to get" him, Clements appeared on the Batchelor lawn tearing his shirt off. Mr. Batchelor watched the spectacle from his upstairs window. He armed himself with the only gun available, a shotgun. "I had the shotgun to deter him from going any further. I thought of putting a shot in the air, but I didn’t intend to aim a shot at him," Mr. Batchelor later testified.

Clements responded "I’ll get my gun out before you can raise them barrels." Clements quickly began to scale scaffolding erected outside the home to the window. Bursting through the window, Clements attacked Batchelor. A blast was fired from the shotgun, striking Clements. Clements ran a short distance and was found dead.

Kenneth Batchelor was charged with murder. This attack on a human life occured in Kent, UK. The case would go before a jury. On March 11, 2009, Kenneth Batchelor was unanimously acquitted of all charges. After the verdict, Judge Jeremy Carey declared "No one should draw any conclusions of a general kind on this case. This defendant has been acquitted of the charge of murder, each case depends upon its own merits."

I'll draw a conclusion Judge Carey. It seems the British people understand the right to self preservation far better than does the British legal system.

No Choice

"There's been a whole bunch of emotions, from joy to being alive to remorse and sadness for the loss of anybody's life. I send my condolences out to the family. They have lost someone," says Heath Miller of Wellington, Florida. "It has been a journey involving me and my wife laughing and crying, and crying and laughing. Bits of depression and bits of joy just to still be here. Every day is a new thing. There have been so many things that have been overwhelming that we just have to breathe and keep going."

Mr. Miller, a soft spoken middle school band and chorus teacher, doesn't wish to discuss with the media the events of the night when 22 year old Robert Tomlin broke into his home with a gun. He does affirm that his dogs, Riley and Jordan, were the real heroes. "They were truthfully heroes. And I owe my life to them, we owe our lives to them," he says. "Normally, if there's something happening on the street or in the neighborhood they'll bark and go to the blinds. You'll hear the blinds rattling. But this particular night they didn't. They started backing up into the bedroom. And that was what really started everything."

On the morning of February 16, 2009, Robert R. Tomlin entered Millers' home wearing a black mask and carrying a .40 caliber pistol. Tomlin had been using a cousin's home several houses away as a mail drop. It is not known for certain why he entered Miller's home in the dark of night wearing a mask and carrying a gun, but it's fair to say he wasn't collecting letters from his pen pal, and he wasn't impersonating the Lone Ranger. Tomlin had a violent police record. He had been arrested for domestic battery two times, once a with pregnant woman. He had assaulted a police officer, and he had numerous violations of probation.

As the dogs backed up in front of the intruder, Miller saw a silhouette carrying a gun in the doorway . Miller grabbed his own gun, and the two men exchanged gunfire. Tomlin was mortally wounded and collapsed at the back door. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mr Miller and his wife are returning to work and are getting counseling. They had found a home in a safer neighborhood, and had finalized a lease after meeting several unexpected requirements concerning their dogs. Now, the owner of the house has backed out of the contract and moved back into the home they wanted. Oddly, the realtor had asked Mr. Miller about the home invasion he suffered the day before the owner took his property off the market. Unwilling to remain in the home where their security had been violated, the Millers are now living with relatives.

Often the actual shooting is only the beginning of the tribulations in a righteous defender's life. I hope in the coming weeks, months and years that Mr. Miller remembers that he is a good man, a solid man, a righteous man. It was not his choice to take a life. It was his choice to save his own life, and the life of his wife. Robert R. Tomlin forced that decision on Mr. Miller, and he had absolutely no right or justification for doing so. In the end, Heath Miller had no choice.

Home Defense Shotgunning

"There is a lot of bullshit out there in the home defense shotgun arena. A lot of money can be made in the plastic tactical whizbang market, and it leaves the newbie wondering if the shotgun itself is really a necessity if he has all that extra junk to throw at an attacker. The truth is, a combat shotgun needs very little to be a devastatingly effective weapon, and they can be bought on the used market very cheaply. There is no reason for any home not to have one."

A few years ago, I published my thoughts on shotguns for home defense, and I haven't cranked out much about the subject since. I figured I had said what I wanted to say, what I had learned over time, and that was that. Still, the lure of the dark side is strong. I continue to see people adorning their scatter guns with more mongo bongo black tactical secret squirrel crap than a high school kid with a new job, a beater Nissan sedan, and a J.C.Whitney catalog.

Now, Carteach0 takes on home defense shotgunning. First, he writes about selecting and equipping your shotgun of choice. Good stuff there. Probably the most important bit is to have spare ammunition on the gun itself. Much of the high speed black plastic stuff can be done away with. Keep it simple. Don't even think about a pistol grip. I tend to agree with him concerning slings as well. Next, Carteach0 provides a few drills and thoughts on it's use.

He makes some good points. First, you can miss with a shotgun. It is not a magic gun. You have got to aim the thing. A 12 gauge is a devastatingly effective fight stopper....... if you hit your target. At home defense distances, the buckshot will pattern very close together, even out of a cylinder bore. It will not be an impenetrable hail of lead in your hallway. If you fail to draw a bead on the threat, you will likely fail to stop the threat.

Shotguns empty quickly. Reloading with the bead on target, especially while moving is a skill that takes training to acquire. You simply cannot expect the tactical Tam fairy to wave her magic wand and sprinkle survivor dust all over you in a fight for your life. If you don't train for it, you will not be able to accomplish it under pressure. Hell, if you do train for it you may still fail.

Training at the range with your home defense weapon is an imperative. Shoot at realistic distances for home defense, from cover, and while moving. Also important is learning to move about your home with your shotgun.

To avoid scaring the neighbors, do this when your home is empty, with the blinds drawn. Make absolutely certain your shotgun is empty. Check the magazine. Finger the follower. Then open and check the chamber. In that order. Then do it again. When you are absolutely certain your shotgun is empty, go though your house with it shouldered. Then go through doorways and halls slicing the pie over the barrel. Learn for yourself just how difficult it is to negotiate your home in this fashion. Think about where you have cover, or concealment. Then imagine doing it in the dark with the stack of books by the door that your wife or girlfriend left there for you to trip over.

Finally, decide whether house clearing or taking a defensive position would be in your best interests in a home invasion. All families and homes are not the same. The best course of action may not apply in all situations, even within the same home. Have more than one option, and when needed, chose the best one you have.

Florida Home Invasion

On February 1, 2009, a Sunday morning, a high school athlete put on a mask and his buddy put a hood over his head. Armed with an SKS rifle and a handgun, the two used a brick to shatter a sliding glass door before they stormed into Maria Lerma's home.

Ta Heem Blake went through the home with the SKS while his classmate, Marquis Sanders, armed with a handgun, took a hostage and stood lookout at the doorway. In a bedroom, Blake discovered Maria Lerma and a 27 year old man. The man grabbed a machete and was shot in the arm by Blake. Then Blake turned the SKS on Maria Lerma, shooting her in the chest and killing her.

Blake began rummaging through drawers intent on robbery. Armando Lerma had hidden behind the refrigerator, and retreated to his bedroom to get his handgun. When he encountered Blake, the dead woman's son shot his mother's killer in the spine, paralyzing him. Police found Blake laying in the doorway next to his rifle. Marquis Sanders, hearing the gunfire, had run off and left his friend to his fate.

The next day, Sanders was taken into custody at Palmetto High School. He confessed to the crime during questioning. Ta Heem Blake was still in the hospital, refusing to talk. He is expected to remain paralyzed from the neck down.

Taxpayers will pay the tab on Ta Heem Blake's hospitalization, because he is a foster child. "A foster child is in our custody, so any medical care that is not covered by Medicare, we will cover," said Erin Gillespie, spokeswoman for the Department of Children and Families Services. Blake had a previous arrest, a felony gun charge, on his record.

The mother of Marquis Sanders, Toy Sanders-Brown, begged the court to set a bond so he could be released from jail. "He is a loving person. Not a rowdy kid, not a street kid," she cried. Right. Marquis Sanders had two previous felony arrests, one for lewd and lascivious exhibition, and another for cocaine possession. Bond for Marquis Sanders was denied. Both teens are charged with the murder of Maria Lerma.

Classmates who knew Blake and Sanders described them as cool kids. "(Sanders) was popular, he was in my English class," said Stephen Mowery, a senior. "He’s a good kid, smart. He always makes people laugh."

Charles Merino Jr., a junior who ran track with Blake, said he does not believe his schoolmate pulled the trigger. "I know he didn’t shoot that woman, he’s too scared," he said. Merino claims they played paintball before and Blake was too nervous to shoot.

Jesse Wright, a sophomore, said the two had no reason to rob anyone. "(Blake) would have gotten into college. It wasn’t like they needed money or anything," declared Wright.

It doesn't matter how many receptions an athlete catches on Friday night, how many friends blind sycophants he collects in high school, if he commits crimes, he is a criminal. One crime such as this trumps everything else. If this is the kind of love Sanders and Blake were spreading, Armando Lerma deserves a public thank you. He absolutely stopped one vicious thug from ever victimizing another person, and hopefully made certain his partner will never walk free again. It's a shame the citizens of Florida will have to foot the bill.

Home Invasion on CCTV

February 5, 2009. Tucson,Arizona. A homeowner, alerted of an impending home invasion by his security cameras, barricades his door, arms himself and successfully defends his home when four armed criminals attempt to invade his home.

The video the owner caught is incredible. You see a vehicle pull up, and four men run out. One of them is carrying what appea More..rs to be an AR-15 or M-16, a weapon which could be fully automatic. The robbery happened last Thursday in broad daylight at a home on West Vande Loo Street. All the action was caught by the homeowners outdoor surveillance system.

"The victim was able to get back inside his house, close his door, semi barricade it, reach for [a] weapon that was easily accessible," says Pima County Sheriff's Deputy Earl Gieron. The homeowner shot at the suspects. He even put a bullet through the windshield of the suspects car, which is also caught on camera. The four men retreated and took off. All of them remain on the run.

Sheriff's officials say the homeowner has surveillance cameras installed all around his house. Dep. Gieron says, "That was just for his own security."

People living in the neighborhood heard all the gunshots, and saw the aftermath. Some stray bullets even hit a home across the street. One man says, "I was asleep around noon Thursday, and heard gunshots."

Lawrence Cruz lives down the street from where the attempted home invasion happened. "I am very watchful where we live and I think everybody has right to defend their property," says Cruz.

Detectives did find the suspect's vehicle at a home near Cardinal and Valencia, but the four men are still on the run. One of the suspects has been identified as 23-year-old Jesus Mendivil. It's believed he was shot in the arm. The three other men are all described as Hispanic males between 17 and 25-years-old.

A Comedy of Errors

"It's 2 o'clock in the morning! You need to go home to bed!" shouted Judie Martel. As the snow drifted through the night outside her home, Mrs. Martel had fallen asleep on the sofa. She was jolted awake by a pounding on her front door. "My first thought was, 'Is that thunder?'" she said, "The windows were rattling."

The noise was not the weather. Mrs. Martel confronted a man entering her shattered door with all that she had at her disposal......a tongue lashing. Then she shoved the man back through the door and barricaded it as best she could. She peered out the window to see if the intruder had left.

Through the darkness she could make out the shape of the man walking through the snow to the other side of her home. He held a bag in his hands. Judie Martel immediately regretted not locking her kitchen door that night. She knew without checking that the kitchen door was unlocked. She seldom locked it, after all, this was Kennebunk Maine, not Detroit Michigan. Rather than locking the door however, she ran upstairs to awaken her husband, a Vietnam vet.

Now, one would think that a Vietnam vet would know what to do. I have to give John Martel credit. He grabbed his shotgun. Then he grabbed the one, the only shotgun shell that he kept in his home. Thus armed, John Martel ran outside towards the shadowy figure in his snow covered yard. When the intruder saw the homeowner with the shotgun, he turned to run.

John Martel fired his one and only shotgun shell over the running man's head. Intentionally. On purpose. Blam! An effective home defense tool became a club. "I was going to shoot to kill," Martel said. "But I've had enough of killing. I shot over his head and he ran up the road."

The police arrived with the radios crackling. Neighbors had called 911 and reported the gunshot and two men running through the neighborhood. The first intruder, Sean Barker, was captured almost immediately while attempting to enter another home. It took a State Police K9 unit to track his buddy Eric Wallace down. The dogs found his backpack, which contained his ID. Although both men were in their early twenties, they each had criminal records and a history illicit drug use. The footprints in the snow showed the men had cased several homes before selecting a victim.

I am happy this couple survived their home invasion, but I have to think it was by Divine providence. The couple is shopping for dead bolt locks, and are considering a large dog to protect them. Judie Martel, a social worker, is trying to view the experience in the most positive framework. "We are very blessed," she says. Her husband is also seeking to reconcile the experience.

"If they had harmed her, I wouldn't have shot in the air," he claims. Well, Mr. Martel, if you have one damned shotgun shell, what the Hell do you plan to do if they decide to harm you and her after you shoot your wad in the air?

It's news reports like these that frustrate me the most. They lay seed to the illusion that blind luck and "blessedness" will save a life. Luck does play a part, to be certain, but Lady Luck favors the person who is prepared. Those deadbolts? They are not going to work if you don't use them. A dog? How about learning to protect yourself? Go buy a box of shotgun shells and quit playing Barney Fife.

Taking a Bite Out of Crime

Stephen Pellegrin leaves his German Shepherd Dog, Lizzie, inside the house when he goes to work. On January 6, the Memphis resident returned home to find her in the back yard with the gate open.

It seems someone broke into the Pellegrin domicile and faced 90 pounds of canine fury. Lizzie had taken a bite out of crime. Police found a blood trail and a shirt that the burgular had used to apply pressure to his wounds.

The usually docile but alert Lizzie suffered a couple of broken toenails, but is otherwise fine. "I could tell she thought she might have done something wrong," says Stephen. The grateful owner took Lizzie out for a steak dinner. Police are analyzing the blood samples she collected.

Good dog Lizzie!

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