Paris, Texas

From the Paris News of April 9, 2006

Local resident shoots bank robber in leg

When the man suspected of robbing a branch office of People’s National Bank hours earlier walked into Johnny Piper’s yard near Slabtown Thursday night, the 34-year-old Lamar County native says he first thought the man to be a dog-handler involved in the manhunt that was then ranging along the nearby Sulphur River bottom.

Minutes later, and after several warnings, Piper says he told Michael Paul Hammonds, 32, to “stop or I’ll shoot.”

“The dogs at that point got away from him and hunkered to the ground,” Piper recalled Saturday about the incident, explaining he followed Hammonds out his driveway from his back porch.

Piper pulled the trigger, sending a 20-gauge shotgun shell through both of Hammonds’ legs, ending a five-hour manhunt involving several law enforcement agencies, a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter and tracking dogs from the Choice Moore State Jail in Bonham.

(Much more)