Thursday, August 13, 2009

Louisiana: No charge against business owner who shot intruder

Shreveport, Louisiana

From the Shreveport Times of July 22, 2009
No charge against business owner who shot intruder

No charge is expected to be filed against the owner of Central Station who fired a shot at an intruder when the man lunged at him Tuesday afternoon.

"We're not new to this," Joseph Giglio, 68, of Shreveport, said of someone breaking into the defunct railroad terminal-turned-bar. The business in the 1000 block of Marshall Street has been burglarized 20 or 30 times, he said.

None of the previous burglaries ended in a shooting, Giglio said.

Jason Funderbunk, 35, hometown unavailable was rushed into emergency surgery at LSU Hospital in Shreveport in serious condition for treatment of a gunshot wound to his torso, according to a Shreveport Police Department news release.

Funderbunk was charged with one count of burglary and placed in police custody at the hospital Tuesday night. Hospital officials said they could release no information about his condition because of his status as a prisoner.

The security company that monitors Central Station detected an intruder in the unoccupied business shortly before 4:30 p.m. and alerted Giglio, who was at another of his operations, a plumbing outlet, according to police. Giglio armed himself and he and an unidentified bartender went to the bar, authorities said.

Giglio found someone hiding behind the counter and him to get on the ground while he called police, Giglio and authorities said.

Instead, the intruder leapt over the counter toward Giglio and tried to disarm the business owner. Giglio said he held the man away from the weapon with one arm and fired one shot.

"I tried to shoot him in the leg, but I don't know where I got him," Giglio said, explaining that police soon arrived and whisked him into a police cruiser.

The intruder "apparently entered the structure through a hole in the roof and was burglarizing the business there," the police news release states.

Giglio alleged the intruder was attempting to access the cash register and safe, which are behind the counter.

The intruder did not brandish any type of weapon, Giglio said, but didn't "leave me much choice."

No comments:

Post a Comment