Winston-Salem, North Carolina

From the Winston-Salem Journal of June 5, 2006

Man killed after trying to force his way into 2 houses, say police

A man who tried to force his way into two houses on Friedland Church Road was shot dead this morning, a spokesman for the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office said today.

The sheriff's office is investigating the shooting and did not release the names of anyone involved. Sheriff's officers were trying to obtain search warrants this afternoon.

Sheriff's Capt. Brad Stanley said a man tried to force his way into the front door of 2804 Friedland Church Road, where a woman who may have been his former girlfriend lives. The man shot off the locks of the front door with a shotgun and entered the house, he said.

Stanley said he was not sure whether the woman was alone in the house. A car and two trucks sat in the driveway outside the house yesterday afternoon.

The woman ran to a house next door at 2808 Friedland Church Road, where a married couple lives, Stanley said. The man followed her and shot off the lock of a side door of the neighbor's house. A man inside the second house killed the attacker with a shotgun, Stanley said.

Authorities have yet to say whether the shooting was in self-defense.

"The homeowner was fearful of what was going on and shot and killed him," Stanley said. The man who killed suffered a single gunshot wound to the chest.

Miami, Florida

From the Miami Herald of June 4, 2006

Prowlers flee homeowner's bullets

A homeowner in Southwest Ranches said he was frightened by two prowlers when he fired the first shot at them through a garage window.

About 2:45 a.m., a live-in housekeeper at a home in the 13400 block of Old Sheridan Street heard noises and saw the men in the garage area possibly trying to break into the garage or a 1995 Ferrari F512. She alerted the homeowner.

While his wife was on the phone with Broward sheriff's deputies, he got his Walther P99 semiautomatic pistol and entered the garage through an interior door. Deputies dispatched on the call heard from the dispatcher that shots had been fired.

They found seven spent shell casings on the front driveway, one inside the garage and a bullet hole in the garage window. The homeowner said he fired seven shots at the men before they jumped a fence into a neighbor's yard.

One of the men wore a black ski hat, black shirt and black gloves. The second wore a light-colored shirt.

A search of the area did not locate the prowlers and no blood was found to indicate that either man had been hit.

Anchorage, Alaska

From the Anchorage Daily News of June 2, 2006

Homeowner shoots bear inside house

A large black bear broke into an Anchorage home early this morning, rummaged around like a burglar and feasted on a box of chocolates before the homeowner shot him dead with a Glock.

The bear entered the two-story Stuckagain Heights house on the Anchorage hillside around 2:30 a.m., according to police.

Stan Knowlton, who lives next door to the house, said his son and daughter-in-law own the place that was ransacked. They were asleep in their bedroom with their Rottweiller, Baby, when the dog started barking wildly, he said.

The bedroom door was closed. Outside, the couple could hear things being knocked over.

Police spokesman Lt. Paul Honeman said the owners initially thought the bear was a burglar. They could not be reached for comment.

Knowlton said his son quickly determined the real identity of the intruder.

"He opens the (bedroom) door and he's face to face with this big black bear," he said. "He slammed the door right away."

Knowlton said his son hollered at the bear to go away and it ran downstairs. The man grabbed a .40-caliber Glock automatic handgun from another bedroom and looked around. The bear had knocked some things over and eaten a box of chocolates that had been sitting near the couch.

"It left all the heart candy sitting in a basket there," Knowlton said.

Knowlton said the bear started back up the stairs toward his son. He shot the animal multiple times and it went back downstairs.

Knowlton said his son didn't know if the bear was dead. He called police. Honeman said the sergeant who responded quipped that he'd been in many a hairy situation over the years, but few so scary as entering a house where there might be a wounded bear on the loose.

Officers found the bear dead in a bathroom, surrounded by a pool of blood and scat. Knowlton said state wildlife officials came and picked up the carcass. It took four people to load it into the truck, he said.

Jonesboro, Arkansas

From the Jonesboro Sun of June 2, 2006

Intruder killed in Jonesboro

Police are investigating the fatal shooting of an intruder whom witnesses said kicked in a door and apparently confronted the resident inside.

The resident at 1301 Calley Cove in suburban north Jonesboro was identified by neighbors as Jeff Gulley. It could not be determined at press time whether Gulley was alone in the residence at the time of the shooting.

At least seven Jonesboro police officers, several Criminal Investigation Division officers and Medic One Ambulance service responded to the call.

Sgt. Stephen McDaniel of the Jonesboro Police Department said the call came in at 9:31 p.m. as a "break-in with shots fired." He said when officers arrived they found the resident and a 45-year-old white male lying dead inside the home. He would not identify the resident or the shooting victim.

Police issued no statements and few details were available at press time. Detective Chris Poe is the lead investigator in the case, police said.

Medic One emergency personnel left the residence with an empty stretcher as detectives investigated the crime scene. Sources at the scene said the intruder's body remained in the residence as the investigation continued for hours.

Neighbors told The Sun they heard a loud noise sometime after 9 p.m. that they said sounded like the roar of a motorcycle starting its engine. With no motorcycles seen in the residential cove, they said they believed the noise was possibly a break-in with gunshots.

Sources at the scene said the alleged intruder kicked in the door of the home and was shot by Gulley with a handgun.

Gulley, identified by neighbors as an Arkansas State University employee, was taken to police headquarters for questioning and an interview about the shooting. He was released by police.

The ASU faculty-staff directory has a Jeffrey S. Gulley, identified as a skilled trades worker in electrical and mechanical maintenance. It could not be confirmed that it was the same person identified by neighbors at Calley Cove.

Neighbors said that Gulley had a permit to carry to concealed handgun and had a gun collection.

Modesto, California

From SanLuisObispo.com of June 1, 2006

Abused woman acquitted of murdering husband after second trial

Surrounded by family members wearing bright yellow T-shirts emblazoned with her picture, Cheryl Orange was teary-eyed and beaming Thursday, talking about the joy of holding the 10 grandchildren born during the 21 years she spent in jail for killing her abusive husband.

She walked out of Stanislaus County Public Safety Center on Thursday, a day after she was acquitted by a jury that was able to rehear her murder case under a law that grants new trials to battered women.

"I'm finally truly free," Orange said, adding that one of the first things she was looking forward to was a big French toast breakfast. "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus."

Orange, 52, was the first woman to receive an acquittal during a second trial granted by the 2001 law, which allows victims of domestic violence who kill their partners to present evidence of the abuse in court, lawyers said.

"It was certainly disappointing," said prosecutor Carol Shipley. "It was very emotional. What she went through was detailed graphically. Anyone listening to that would've been upset by it. ... We presented evidence that she was as violent as he was, but the jury felt she should be acquitted."

In 1985, Orange was charged with murdering her husband, Frank Orange. She shot him six times with a stolen rifle, but claimed she'd been acting in self-defense. When the jury couldn't reach a verdict, she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 17 years to life.

At the time, her lawyer couldn't introduce evidence that she was in a dangerous relationship with a man whose beatings had landed her in the hospital twice, Orange said.

He locked her repeatedly in the trunk of his car, raped her, threatened her with a knife, smothered her and even trained his pit bull to watch her every move, she said.

One month before the murder, she went to the district attorney's office after a beating, and they documented her injuries, but back then, it was simply her word against his, said her lawyer, Kellee Malone.

Two of the original trial jurors were contacted for the appeal, Malone said. They said the jury had been divided, and if they'd known about the abuse, they might have acquitted her. Those statements were included as part of the new trial, which began May 9.

(More)

Jacksonville, Florida

From Jacksonville.com of June 1, 2006

Store owner shoots man he says was trying to rob him

The owner of an Avondale business said the man demanded money.

Doug Freeman had already called 911 to report a robbery in progress at his Jacksonville electronics store.

He had already sent several employees, his wife and 7-year-old daughter to another part of the Avondale business.

He had already watched from a surveillance set-up as the suspicious man kept roaming around, looking left, looking right, constantly fidgeting, but somehow never walking back out the front door as Freeman hoped.

So when Freeman opened fire at close range, five bullets from his .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun hitting the man, the store owner said he did it for one reason only.

"I just felt he left me no other choice," the 39-year-old owner of Marvin's Electronics said Wednesday, the shock from the noontime confrontation still fresh hours later.

The man demanded money, said he'd just gotten out of jail and looked "cracked out," Freeman said. In one hand, the man held what looked like a cell phone, the store owner recalled.

But when the man's other hand went up under his shirt and then down in his waistband to a bulge Freeman thought could be a gun, the store owner made up his mind.

He'd fire first.

"I shot him," Freeman said. Seconds later, police arrived.

"He fell out the door and he almost fell into an officer's arms," the store owner said.

Police didn't arrest Freeman, but also didn't say if the suspected robber had been armed. The man, identified as Vincent Hudson, 26, of nearby Post Street, was at Shands Jacksonville hospital late Wednesday for treatment of injuries police said were life-threatening. The investigation into the incident at the store at 933 Edgewood Ave. S. is continuing, police spokesman Ken Jefferson said.

Freeman said he was confident the shooting was justifiable. And he said it wasn't his first.

About 15 years ago, while working for a repo company, he defended his wife, Charlotte, from a knife-point attack during a job on Powers Avenue. He said he shot and killed the attacker but also wounded Charlotte, then his girlfriend.

(More)

Autryville, North Carolina

From Clinton’s The Sampson Independent of June 1, 2006

Burglar assaults Sampson woman, shot

A Dunn-area man who allegedly broke into a Sampson County home and attempted to assault a woman at the residence was shot in the leg by another man who was at the home at the time, according to reports at the Sheriff’s Office.

The suspect in the burglary, Wesley Craig Hickman, 22, of 536 Clubhouse Drive, Dunn, the man who allegedly broke into the Carrolls Store Road home is expected to be charged with first-degree burglary in connection with the incident, authorities said.

Reports state that, just after 2 a.m. Saturday, a suspect barged into 366 Carrolls Store Road and attempted to assault Leslie Ann Skinner, 20, of Maxwell Road, Autryville, who was at the home at the time.

William McPhail, 20, of the Carrolls Store Road home, reportedly shot Hickman in the left leg with a double-barrel shotgun, Sheriff’s Capt. Julian Carr said.

“(Hickman) apparently kicked the door in at this residence,” said Carr. “He was approached or confronted by William McPhail, of that residence” just prior to the shooting, Carr said.

The captain said that Hickman was attempting to assault Skinner prior to the shooting.

Following the incident, Hickman was taken to Sampson Regional Medical Center, before being transported to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, where he was being treated for the injury.