Homeowner: No time to think, only time to shoot

**WhiteFeather** · November 13th, 2007, 03:07 PM

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/no...rs-shoots-one/

Homeowner: No time to think, only time to shoot
2 interlopers arrested after one wounded in neck in South Knoxville
By Don Jacobs
Originally published 11:39 a.m., November 12, 2007
Updated 04:23 p.m., November 12, 2007

Saul Young

Horace Garland, right, and his girlfriend Kay Cupp confronted two robbers who tried to break into their South Knoxville home. Garland ended up shooting one of the robbers in the neck.

He didn't have time to consider why cops would be screaming and yelling on his front porch about midnight Sunday. He didn't have time to be scared. The 63-year-old man only had time to react with the .38-caliber Police Special he kept at his bedside.

Garland, a Vietnam veteran, said he started shooting at "anything I could hit."

"I'm glad he did," said Garland's live-in girlfriend, Kay Cupp. "I believe those guys would have killed us in bed if they could have gotten in."

One of the men, Jeremy Johnson, did get in the house. Garland, who stands 5 feet-9 inches tall and weighs 122 pounds, shot the 21-year-old Johnson through the neck.

Garland and Cupp said they moved to the Chestnut Street house less than two months ago. Garland has relatives in the community, so the couple had no trouble settling into their new neighborhood.

The couple had been in bed about an hour Sunday night, but weren't yet asleep when they heard a commotion on their porch.

"A boy just came up on the porch, hollering and yelling he was KPD," Garland said. "I told 'em I had a pistol."

When the two interlopers couldn't force the locked door open, they smashed out the chest-high window on the door. Johnson then dove through the broken window "like he was diving into the water," Cupp said.

When Johnson stood up, Garland started firing. One round struck Johnson's neck, dropping him to the carpeted floor of the living room in the single-story home.

"I shot three or four times," Garland said. Although less than five feet separated the two men, only one round struck Johnson, who began screaming for help.

"I was standing back to keep an eye on the other guy and he had a gun," Garland said.

"He was sticking the gun through the window and shot at me. He had a potato stuck on the end of his as a silencer."

The round from the gun wielded by Johnson's step-brother, Timothy Lee Sellers, 26, missed Garland by less than two feet. The round entered the wall of Garland's bedroom at about waist high, pierced the open bedroom door and then struck the bed's wood end board.

With Johnson screaming for help, yelling he was unable to move, Sellers decided he'd had enough.

"He was yelling quit shooting, so I quit," Garland said. "It was over just like that. It happened so fast."

Garland allowed Sellers to clamber through the broken front door window to get to his screaming partner.

"I let him come in and get 'em," Garland said. "I wanted them out of here."

Without a word, Sellers grabbed Johnson and bundled the wounded man through the door window. Blood still marks the spot on the front porch where Johnson hit when he was shoved through the broken window. Then Sellers opened the front door and walked out.

Sellers drove Johnson to the University of Tennessee Medical Center were he was treated for the wound to his neck. A few minutes later, police found Sellers driving on Scottish Pike.

Knox County Sheriff's officers said Sellers and Johnson admitted their involvement and each faces charges of aggravated burglary and attempted aggravated burglary. Each man was being held in jail in lieu of $55,000 bond. Authorities said both men have criminal histories.

The retired Garland said he was puzzled why anyone would target his residence for a home-invasion burglary. He said sheriff's detectives told him the suspects may have thought the previous occupants still lived in the house.

Although Garland said he was concerned he might face a criminal charge, the Knox County Sheriff's Office noted Garland was acting in self defense and does not face any charges.

**righteousbarbarian** · November 13th, 2007, 04:28 PM

is it me or did that article paint the homeowner in a negative light, as impulsive and careless? A guy broke into his house with a freakin potato on the end of his gun!

**markheck1** · November 13th, 2007, 05:01 PM

If he shot at the homeowner.....isn't that attempted Murder as well???

**Coop650** · November 13th, 2007, 05:17 PM

Originally Posted by righteousbarbarian

is it me or did that article paint the homeowner in a negative light, as impulsive and careless? A guy broke into his house with a freakin potato on the end of his gun!

Yeah it seemed like they tried to portray him that way when they pointed how close the guy was and only hit once and how they also quote how he said he was shooting at anything he could hit. I am glad neither of the homeowners got hurt.

**bogey1** · November 13th, 2007, 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by righteousbarbarian

is it me or did that article paint the homeowner in a negative light, as impulsive and careless? A guy broke into his house with a freakin potato on the end of his gun!

i dont know, i read it twice and it seems pretty fair? im glad the homeowner plugged the asshole....

**DaveM55** · November 14th, 2007, 10:52 AM

Horace Garland you're my hero!!!

**Zef_66** · November 14th, 2007, 11:53 AM

I hope I would be able to do the same thing (with a little better shot placement) in a similar situation.

**Shawn.L** · November 15th, 2007, 03:23 PM

A POTATO AS A SILENCER?!?!?!?!
[SIZE="3"]I have no delusions of granduer that if a criminal invades my home I will be able to take up a proper stance and grip and be able to shoot like I do at the range. Id say the moral of this story is to invest in high-cap mags.