Macon County, GA

 12/11/21 WMAZ:

Lastly, investigators say the homicide of Jarvis Ottman in this parking lot in November was self-defense.

"Mr. Ottman had come up and blocked the car in. He was coming to it in a threatening manner. The driver was not sure what was going to happen," Davis said. 

The sheriff says the driver shot to protect himself and passengers in the car, including children.

Macon County, GA

 12/11/21 WMAZ:

Then, in a double shooting in October, investigators ruled Aquanis Howard's death a murder but Jeremy Bebee's as justifiable.

"We have reason to believe that Mr. Bebee was one of the ones that had been doing the shooting originally," Davis said. "There was returned fire that hit him."

Macon County, GA

12/11/21 WMAZ:

Other homicides deemed justified by investigators include Antraz Burkett.

Deputies say he attacked a woman with a hammer, hitting her in the face and head several times. Then, the woman's husband shot and killed Burkett.

Investigators say 31-year-old Anthony Burke busted a window and kicked in the front door of his ex-girlfriend's home. A man inside that home shot and killed Burke.

Macon County, GA

12/11/21 WMAZ:

Then, in June, deputies concluded 18-year-old Marquavious Wright was killed out of self-defense.

"[The case of] Marquavious Wright was a situation where he was going to be involved in a robbery. The person who shot him was trying to defend themselves from being robbed," Davis said. 

Davis say Wright along with 17-year-old Travis Demontae Gilbert and 14-year-old Shamar Smith attempted to rob that person. That's why even though investigators don't believe Gilbert and Smith pulled the trigger, they still face murder charges in the case.

Macon County, GA

 12/11/21 WMAZ:

The first of six homicides Bibb Investigators ruled as justifiable was the shooting death of Dominique Walker, Jr. in March 2021. Deputies says it all started with a fight. 

"We believe Walker began the shooting, and someone was returning fire," Davis said. 

Atlanta, GA

 3/9/21 WSB:

ATLANTA — Atlanta police responded to a midtown Chick-Fil-A where they say an armed citizen stopped an attempted burglary.

Police received a call after 3 p.m. Tuesday about a man who entered the restaurant inside Colony Square with a gun and demanded cash.

Atlanta police originally said the man fired three shots inside the restaurant, according to witness reports.

However, police later said the shots came from an armed citizen who tried to stop the robbery.

As the man ran from the restaurant, Sgt. John Chafee said several people nearby saw what was going on and attempted to stop him.

One of them fired two shots and held the robbery suspect at gunpoint until officers arrived.

No one was injured in the shooting. No charges at this time are expected against the citizen.

The suspect was identified Tuesday at 23-year-old Willie Gloston IV. He is charged with armed robbery, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He is in the Fulton County Jail.

Cobb County, GA

3/23/20 Fox 5 Atlanta:

MARIETTA, Ga. - Police are investigating after a Cobb County resident stopped three burglars in their tracks, killing one of them.
According to investigators, late Sunday night at least three people tried to break into a home on Olive Spring Road. officers say a 17-year-old resident opened fire on the intruders.

Conyers, GA

9/17/19 CNN:

The masked teens -- a 15-year-old and two 16-year-olds -- approached three residents around 4 a.m. Monday at the front yard of a home just outside Conyers and tried to rob them, the Rockdale County Sheriff's Office said.

One of the would-be robbers took out a gun and fired shots at them before one of the residents returned fire, authorities said.
"The victims of the attempted robbery were all uninjured, but the three attempted robbery suspects were all shot during the exchange of gunfire and succumbed to their injuries, one on scene and two at a local hospital after being transported," the sheriff's department said in a news release....
Another neighbor ran out to help after he heard what sounded like five shots from a handgun, he said.
"Then I heard somebody have an assault rifle," Carlos Watson told WSB. "And it was a slew of shots that came out."

Local coverage 9/16/19 WSB:

The homeowner who shot the masked intruder is a man. Neighbors say he's a truck driver who owns a semi-automatic rifle and is highly protective of his mother.

Atlanta, GA

1/29/19 Fox News:

A customer shot and killed a would-be thief on Tuesday as he tried to hold up a Family Dollar store in Atlanta, police said.

The  shooting took place in the early morning in DeKalb County.
County police spokesman Sgt. J.D. Spencer told WGXA that an unidentified suspect entered the store and pulled a gun on two employees.

While the armed suspect was demanding money from the cashier, a customer pulled his own gun and fired, Fox 5 reported.

Police are investigating the scene but said that the customer will not be charged in the shooting.

DeKalb Co., GA

6/18/18 Miami Herald:

A group of armed would-be robbers tried to take advantage of a couple Friday night in DeKalb County, Ga, police say - but it didn't go as planned.

Police say a group of individuals began following a couple through a Kroger grocery store in metro Atlanta Friday afternoon, according to Fox 5. Police say when the group followed the couple outside hoping to either rob or carjack them, the parking lot turned into a battlefield.

"It was chaos," one witness told WSB. "I saw the guy was shot. I saw him on the floor, shot."

Police say three armed individuals approached the couple outside, but realized one of the members of the couple was armed as well, and a shootout began, according to WXIA.

"It was like the Wild Wild West. I was terrified," a witness, who was sitting in her car during the fight, told Fox 5. "I'm just glad I'm safe."

Police say four different people were all firing at some point, but the only people who were hit were the alleged attackers, according to CBS 46. Three of those alleged attackers were shot, with one bloodied man entering the Kroger store.

Blakely, GA

Date uncertain, WTVY:

Blakely, GA (WTVY)-- A Blakely woman shot a convicted sex offender to death over the weekend after he allegedly broke into her home.

During a 9-1-1 call placed late Saturday the victim reported she was assaulted after discovering 53-year old Michael Lindsey hiding in a closet of her home. The woman’s 12-year old daughter was also present.

“Deputies arrived at the scene and insured the safety of the victims who had locked themselves inside a room because they weren’t sure if the intruder was still inside the home,” Early County Investigator Captain Will Caudill said.

Officers also discovered 53-year old Michael Lindsey outside the home. He was taken to a Blakely hospital and pronounced dead. He’s believed to have stumbled from inside before collapsing. Prior to the shooting she fought off her attacker with a spoon, a police report states.

Columbus, GA

10/25/17 Columbus [GA] Ledger-Enquirer:

The man who was shot Oct. 1 during a party outside of a Fort Benning Road apartment was killed in self-defense, according to Columbus Police.

Robert Bennefield Lewis, 29, was pronounced dead at Midtown Medical Center two days after the shooting, Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan said.

Authorities were called to the 2300 block of Fort Benning Road around 3:33 a.m. Oct. 1 to investigate a shooting where three people were wounded.

Lt. Ralph Dowe told the Ledger-Enqurier Wednesday morning that further investigation indicated that Lewis was the aggressor. Witnesses said he confronted a person during a party outside of the apartment complex.

Columbus, GA

8/8/17 Columbus [GA] Ledger-Enquirer:

A homeowner shot and killed an intruder in self-defense late Monday on Kingsberry Street, according to Columbus police.

Derrick Cureton, 23, was pronounced dead at 10:30 p.m. His body will be transported to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab for an autopsy, said Muscogee County Chief Deputy Coroner Freeman Worley.

Columbus, GA

02/06/17 Columbus [GA] Ledger-Enquirer:

The Fort Benning soldier killed in a Sunday morning shooting on Armour Avenue had broken into an apartment and was shot by the resident living there, according to a police report on the incident.

Christopher Warden, 31, a Fort Benning soldier apparently thought the apartment was where his wife had gone to pick up her daughter. An unidentified friend of Warden’s and a neighbor in the apartments tried to tell Warden he was at the wrong address. But Warden beat and kicked the door, then broke out a window and climbed through.

Once he was inside the apartment, the resident there heard him, armed herself and yelled at Warden to leave. He refused and walked into her bedroom where she fired a handgun once into his chest.

Cobb County, GA

12/26/16 WMC channel 5:

MABLETON, GA (CBS46) -Two men tried to outgun the owner of a gun store in Mableton, but it did not work out as planned. 

It happened Monday morning at the Dixie Gun and Pawn on Veterans Memorial Highway in Cobb County. 

Jimmy Groover told police two men wearing masks came in with guns drawn, demanding that he get on the floor, while shouting they were going to kill him.

Groover said he was wearing a pistol on his hip, and he used it to fire back at the robbers, killing one of them.

Coweta County, GA

11/17/16 WSB:

Just as Elaine Stiehl, 78, was about to take her nap, she heard a noise coming from the front of her home, Coweta County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Col. James Yarbrough told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Stiehl grabbed her pistol, loaded it and stepped into the hallway to find two men, who allegedly broke into her home, police said.

Yarbrough said the men, Thomas Allen Linder and John Michael O’Neal, saw the gun, ran out of the home and got into an SUV driven by Anne Renee Dearman. The trio sped off, but police later found them heading north on I-85, Yarbrough said. Two guns, one stolen from out of state, power tools and fur coats were found in the car.

Gwinnett County, GA

Rough month for thugs there.  9/23/16 WSB:

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - Police are hoping someone can help identify two home invaders. They were caught on camera as a woman in the house shot at them.

"She exercised her right to defend her livelihood and property," Cpl. Deon Washington with the Gwinnett County Police Department told Channel 2’s Nicole Carr.

Surveillance video from inside the home shows the Gwinnett County woman rush from her bedroom and then unloads all her bullets on the three men who kicked in her front door.

There's a video of the event at that link.

Gwinnett County, GA

9/16/16 WSB:

Gwinnett County police are investigating a case in which a woman shot and killed one of several men breaking into her home.

Gwinnett County police said they responded to the house in the 3000 block of Spring Drive after the shooting happened just before 4 a.m. Friday.

A man and woman were sleeping inside the house when three men kicked in the front door, Gwinnett County police Cpl. Deon Washington said.

DeKalb County, GA

1/14/16 WVTM:

A metro Atlanta man says he’s thankful he had an old hunting rifle handy when two armed men burst into his home Wednesday and began pistol-whipping him and his mother.

Timo Hernandez, 28, recounted the attack the next day. He said his mother happened to be visiting him from Nashville. She cooked some chili for him at his home on Eastwood Drive. The two sat down at about 5 p.m. to eat. Moments later, someone knocked on the door.

"When I opened the door, these two guys stormed in with guns and started pistol-whipping me and took me to the ground," said Hernandez.

One of the intruders went after his mother, who was trying to escape.

"He started pistol whipping and kicking her in the side," he said.

The son's attacker demanded money and forced him through the house at gunpoint. He took him to a guest bedroom and threw him to the ground.

"He put a gun to my head,” Hernandez said, “and I just started fighting back."

Hernandez said it just so happened that his father's old hunting rifle was stashed away in that guest room. Hernandez had been thinking about refinishing it. During the scuffle, Hernandez managed to grab the rifle, and he started firing.

Bullets struck both men. Wounded, they both fled the house. One collapsed dead in a neighbor's yard. The other man hopped in a getaway car, but later collapsed in the parking lot of a Zaxby's restaurant. He remained in critical condition until passing Thursday from his wounds.

Police believe the men had been trying to impersonate police officers. Police badges and zip ties were found at the scene, police said.

Gwinnet County, GA

From 12/09/15 Fox 29:

GWINNETT COUNTY, GA (FOX 5) Armed Gwinnett County residents packing heat, took action after hearing a man's cries for help. They credit their guns with saving the elderly man's life.

"Help, he is trying to kill me, help me, help me." Those are the chilling words Karen Duncan heard as she walked up her friend's driveway in Lawrenceville Monday afternoon.

"She kind of started running towards the house," said her friend, Ron Childress. "I could tell something was wrong and she hit the doorbell in a panic."

Childress said when he opened the door he heard the same terrifying words. Duncan said she grabbed her purse with her gun inside and took off to find the man. "As I got closer I realized that there is this elderly gentleman laying on the ground with a younger man on top of him with a knife," said Duncan.  "I see blood and this big old knife."

Duncan said the man was trying to stab another man around 90-years-old. She said she told him to stop, but he did not listen.

"Finally I said, 'I'm getting ready to shoot you' and then he stopped and he looked at me and he tossed the knife away," said Duncan.  Her friend, Childress, who is a former law enforcement officer showed up right behind her.

"I said 'put your arms out, put your legs out and stay right where you are, do not move,'" said Childress.  While Childress pointed his gun at the man Duncan called 911.

Childress said he is convinced that if Duncan had not shown up when she did, the elderly man would have been killed and credits being armed with saving the man’s life.