Cooke County, Texas



From the Gainesville Daily Register of July 26, 2004

County investigates shooting of alleged burglar



The Cooke County Sheriff's office investigators are continuing to look into a shooting that occurred Sunday when a homeowner surprised a would-be burglar leaving his house.



Sheriff Mike Compton said Jack Anthony Smith, 40, arrived at his house at 3503 Hemming Road in southern Cooke County with his wife about 9 p.m. Sunday and saw a man leaving it with bags of their household's items. Compton said the door to the house had been kicked in to gain entry.



"He tried to get him to stop," Compton said. "He couldn't get him to stop."



Smith then shot William Wayne Elliot, 27, in his left leg with a .45 handgun as he ran down the Smith's driveway in order to keep him from leaving with the family's possessions, according to Compton. The sheriff said where the gun was located prior to the shooting was part of the case and declined to say if Smith had the gun in the car or the house.



Elliot, who is formerly of Whitesboro but now with an unknown current address, was transported by CareFlite from the scene to Harris Methodist Medical Center in Fort Worth. Monday morning Compton said Elliot was listed in stable condition.



Compton said the sheriff's department is preparing burglary charges to file against Elliot.



As for if charges will be filed against Smith, Compton said the case remains under investigation and declined to say.



"This is a case of a homeowner defending his home," he said.

No subsequent stories about this incident were found

Orange Park, Florida



From Jacksonville’s Jacksonville.com of August 28, 2004

1 killed as robbery goes bad



Home invasion suspects encounter card players with guns in hand, too



Three armed men burst into an Orange Park-area home late Wednesday, pointing guns at four men who were playing cards inside.



Several of the card-players responded with gunfire, killing one of the intruders and prompting the two others and a possible accomplice waiting outside to flee, said Clay County Sheriff Scott Lancaster.



Two of the men who may have been responsible for what was apparently a home invasion robbery gone awry were quickly identified after a witness who noticed a "suspicious vehicle" in the neighborhood at the time jotted down its license tag and notified the sheriff's office, Lancaster said.



"We're always talking about partnerships with our community and these partnerships can solve crimes," Lancaster said. "Even before we had begun processing the scene, we got a call from a witness ... and within an hour we had two suspects."



Those two suspects were arrested and charged with attempted home invasion robbery and felony murder. They were being processed into the Clay County Jail early Thursday afternoon and their names had not been released. The third suspect, the possible accomplice who did not enter the house, was still at large.



The name of the intruder who was killed was being withheld pending notification of next of kin.



The names of the people in the house also had not been released. Lancaster said his office and the State Attorney's Office determined they acted in self-defense and would not be charged with the shooting.

Muncie, Indiana



From the Munster Northwest Indiana Times of August 28, 2004

Robbery suspects were in no hurry to help wounded comrade



Four would-be bandits drove nearly 90 minutes before they decided to get help for one of them who had been shot in the stomach when their robbery attempt turned into a shoot-out, police said Thursday.



And when they did get help, the other three wouldn't go to the hospital.



Instead, fearing they would be caught by the police, the men, all from the Chicago area, dropped their accomplice off with a friend in Johnson County.



The injured would-be bandit, identified by police as 20-year-old Dustin Fredericksen of Lowell, Ind., was being treated late Thursday at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.



Fredericksen was shot when he and three other men, two of whom are now in custody, walked into Prairie Creek Pawn Shop wearing masks. Before anyone exchanged a word, Fredericksen held a revolver to a potato as if it was a silencer and fired it at the head of owner Adam Kennedy who immediately drew his own gun and fired back, according to witnesses and police.



In all, at least four shots were fired within 10 seconds as Kennedy and three of the men stood about 10 feet from each other.



Investigators said Thursday they believe that the four men planned to shoot Kennedy and then rob him.



"They were going to shoot him right off the bat," Muncie Police Sgt. Al Williams said. "It was by the grace of God [Kennedy] didn't get shot."

…

Since the robbery, Kennedy has reopened his pawn shop, although it was closed for nearly a day while he cleaned up pieces of the potato splattered throughout the store when Fredericksen tried unsuccessfully to use it as a silencer.



The owner said he plans to install some "security devices" to protect him in the future.



As for the gun. It's still going to be at his side.



"If I didn't have my gun, I wouldn't be talking right now," he said. "I always wondered what I would do in that situation. Now I know."

Hardeeville, South Carolina



From the Beaufort Gazette of August 25, 2004

Police: Man killed breaking into home



A Hardeeville man shot and killed an intruder who broke into home early Monday morning, Jasper County Sheriff's officials said.



Michael Jenkins, 32, of Hardeeville, was shot in the leg and face by Michael Grant, 28, when he broke down Grant's door at 12:41 a.m., according to police.



Maj. Sam Woodward of the Jasper County Sheriff's Office said Grant shot the intruder with a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol moments after his home security alarm went off.



"The suspect tried to enter the house using a crowbar and kicking in the door," Woodward said. "When he kicked the door in, the homeowner fired shots."



Jenkins was taken to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, where he was pronounced dead at approximately 4:30 a.m., Woodward said.



Grant, who lives alone, was questioned by police, but was not charged in the incident, Woodward said. The Solicitor's Office will make the final call on whether charges are warranted, he said.



Woodward said the case is under investigation, and that police believe there was another suspect with Jenkins before he was shot. No one was in custody as of Monday evening.



South Carolina laws regarding the use of lethal force by a victim in a home invasion are less strict than in other states, said Prof. Kenneth Gaines, a criminal law professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law.



"A lot of states say there has to be a gun or other serious weapons involved before you can use deadly force," Gaines said, adding that Grant will most likely not be charged in the shooting. "If (Jenkins) was in the house, I would doubt there will be any prosecution. In South Carolina, if somebody is breaking into your home, you can assume they are coming in to do something to you, and you are allowed to use deadly force."

Sunset Hills, Missouri



From the August 25, 2004 St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

A homeowner in Sunset Hills fatally shot an intruder who pushed his way into the house and used a "stun gun," police said. It happened about 6 a.m. Wednesday in the 12600 block of Old Gravois Road, at a relatively-isolated house surrounded by trees.



Police said the owner retrieved a small-caliber handgun before answering a knock on his back door. A man standing outside asked for gasoline and then forced his way in, shocking the resident with an electric stun gun, investigators were told. The owner fired one shot into the chest of the intruder, who turned and ran about 200 yards before falling dead.



Sunset Hills police said it appeared to be a justified use of a firearm in self defense. They said there was no apparent connection between the men, and surmised that the intruder had picked the house at random for a robbery. Nobody else was seriously hurt. The homeowner's name was not released.

Gainesville, Florida



From Orlando’s WESH.com of July 12, 2004

Woman Claims Self-Defense In Man's Death



A Gainesville woman who killed her boyfriend over the weekend said it was a case of self-defense.



No charges have been filed against Shannon Cherise Allen. She said Willie Love Alston threatened her with a knife before she shot him at their home early Sunday. Alston died at a hospital Sunday afternoon.



Investigators talked to Allen for several hours before deciding not to file any charges. The case is being turned over to the State Attorney's office, so charges are still possible after further review.

No subsequent stories about this incident were found.

Montgomery, Alabama



From the Montgomery Advertiser of August 24, 2004

No charges in shooting deaths



The district attorney calls it self-defense and the Autauga County grand jury ruled no crime occurred, but the mother of a man killed Dec. 11, 2002, at a Prattville drug house calls it murder.



The grand jury didn't return any indictments in the case in which Marcus DaWayne Seago, 46, of Prattville and Irving Jackson, 29, of Montgomery were killed.



The grand jury wrapped up deliberations last Thursday and released its report Monday. District Attorney Randall Houston said the men were there to rob the place of money and drugs. No arrests had been made before the grand jury took up the case.



"We feel there was illegal activities going on in the home; drug-related activities," Houston said. "But the people at the home have the right to defend themselves. Marcus Seago and Irving Jackson went there to rob the place, and they got killed for their trouble."



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