Armed citizens making a difference thread.

[streaker69]

All of these have to be fake, cause I've read that no good guy with a gun has ever stopped a bad guy.

[internet troll]

One more for the night.

Suspect Wearing Only Underwear Shot, Killed After Attacking Pastor and Family

http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...or-and-family/

An alleged home invader wearing only underway was shot and killed after breaking into a pastor’s home and attacking the pastor and pastor’s wife.
The incident occurred around 2 a.m. in Cypress, Texas.
According to ABC 13, Harris County Sheriff’s Sgt. Felipe Rivera said, “The door is kicked in and that’s how the family wakes up to discover the intruder in the residence.” Pastor Lorenzo Martinez and his wife, Gloria Martinez, were home–as were members of their extended family.

Pastor Martinez’s daughter, Naarai Olvera, said, “[The suspect] just started hitting my dad then he hit my mom, then my brother woke up and my brother started hitting him.” Olvera said the suspect punched her mother in the nose numerous times and was not fazed when her brother intervened to try to stop him. She said, “He just kept attacking, he would not stop.”

Sgt. Rivera said, “He wasn’t running from anybody. He was attacking. In my opinion, he was in an attacking mode.”

Olvera said the suspect eventually allegedly kicked in the door to the room in which her brother-in-law, his wife, and children slept. At that point the brother-in-law shot and killed the suspect. She added, “We are a Christian family, we don’t believe in killing anybody. But we had to do what we had to do to protect our family and protect our little kids.”

Investigators believe the suspect parked a Lincoln sedan about half a mile from the house, then walked to the house and attacked.

[internet troll]

"He too is a victim," chief says of officer who stopped Minnesota attack

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/minnesot...pped-stabbing/

ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Authorities in Minnesota say an off-duty, part-time police officer likely saved lives when he shot and killed a man who injured nine in a stabbing attack Saturday at a St. Cloud, Minnesota mall, reports CBS Minnesota.

Five minutes after authorities received the first 911 call, Jason Falconer, a part-time officer in the city of Avon, began shooting the attacker as he was lunging at him with the knife, and continued to engage him as the attacker got up three times, according to police.

Avon Police Chief Corey Nellis said at a press conference Monday that he is “very proud of Officer Falconer’s heroic actions in confronting the perpetrator of the stabbing assaults of the Crossroads Mall Saturday.”

Nellis said more victims could have been hurt or killed if Falconer hadn’t shot the suspect.

“Officer Falconer put himself in harm’s way to protect the public from a man who had already stabbed nine victims,” Nellis said, adding that Falconer was the “right person, at the right place, at the right time.”

Falconer hasn’t spoken publicly about the incident, and Nellis asked that he be given time to cope.

“He too is a victim in this situation,” Nellis said.

The father of suspect Dahir A. Adan says his son was as a 22-year-old college student.

Ahmed Adan told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis that police told him Saturday night that his son died at Crossroads Center mall in St. Cloud.

He says police didn’t mention the attack on the mall, but they seized photos and other materials from the family’s apartment.

The family of Adan issued a statement Monday evening expressing condolences to the people injured and anyone else who was affected.

A spokesman for the family of 20-year-old read from a statement Monday that said the family is “devastated by the incomprehensible tragic event. The statement also said the family is in “deep shock.”

Authorities haven’t publicly identified the attacker.

Ahmed Adan, who is Somali, says his son came to the U.S. 15 years ago and was was a student at St. Cloud Technical and Community College. He told the Star Tribune he had “no suspicion” that his son might have been involved in terrorist activity.

A federal law enforcement source told CBS News that the deceased suspect asked people if they were Muslim and stabbed those who said they were not.

All nine victims -- seven men, a woman and a 15-year-old girl -- were treated at hospitals for wounds that weren’t life-threatening, St. Cloud police Chief Blair Anderson said at a news conference Sunday. Three remained hospitalized. The others were released.

[internet troll]

I suspect this case was heavily discussed around here back in the day. This is a case that goes to show that when you ddcide to defend yourself, you risk putting yourself through hell if successful.


virginia man acquitted in philly self defense shooting in 2010 sued by victim
http://pennrecord.com/stories/510551...e-doctrine-law



One year ago, Gerald Ung was acquitted of attempted murder during a jury trial at Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.

The Feb. 15, 2010 verdict pleased many gun rights advocates, since it signalized increasing tolerance for those who resort to using deadly force with their firearms when they fear for their life.

Ung was then a 29-year-old Virginia transplant living in Philadelphia while attending his third year of law school at Temple University.

After a night out on the town in January 2010, he and a female companion got into an altercation in PhiladelphiaÂ’s Old City neighborhood with Eddie DiDonato, Jr. and two of DiDonatoÂ’s buddies.

The altercation ended with Ung pulling his legal handgun and firing a half-dozen times at DiDonato.

Ung had argued that he feared for his life while being pursued by the three larger men; security camera footage confirmed Ung was backing away from the group at the time he pulled his gun and fired the shots.

DiDonato, a former lacrosse player, didnÂ’t die; but he did sustain numerous injuries, including partial paralysis.

Ung was subsequently charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and possession of an instrument of crime.

He was also initially charged with carrying a firearm without a license, but that charge was rescinded after police conceded that UngÂ’s Virginia-issued concealed carry permit is recognized in Pennsylvania.

The case mainly drew publicity because it involved the shooting of an unarmed man in what was deemed a self-defense situation.

After a trial in which Ung emotionally testified on his own behalf, the jury acquitted the law student on all charges.

The story seemed to be over – until now.

On Dec. 30, prominent Philadelphia personal injury lawyer Robert Mongeluzzi filed a lawsuit on behalf of DiDonato. The defendants named in the civil action are Ung and a handful of drinking establishments that served alcohol to Ung on the night the shooting occurred.

The suit alleges that the bars should be at least partially liable for what occurred to DiDonato given the fact that they allegedly acted negligently in over-serving either Ung or acquaintances of the plaintiff.

The lawsuit has caused some Internet chatter, with legal news bloggers and Second Amendment advocates alike questioning the validity of the complaint, for various reasons.

‘Castle Doctrine’

Last June, Gov. Tom Corbett signed so-called “Castle Doctrine” legislation into law. The bill, unanimously supported by both members of Pennsylvania’s legislative chambers, gives people the right to use deadly force outside of the home when they feel as though their lives are in danger.

Traditionally, people under threat outside the home would have to try and retreat from an attack as a first option; the old law only permitted deadly force inside oneÂ’s residence.

Gun rights supporters hailed the billÂ’s passage as a victory for self-defense; opponents warned of gunfights playing out in the streets over minor disputes.

The Ung case is interesting in that it may have the ability to test the Castle DoctrineÂ’s effectiveness. At the same time, itÂ’s unknown how things will play out in civil court, particularly because the shooting took place prior to the lawÂ’s passage.

The law has a built-in civil immunity provision, which is designed to make it extremely difficult for a plaintiff in a civil case to collect damages when it was determined that a shooting was done in self-defense.

In other words, if prosecutors rule a shooting justified, a plaintiff in a civil case, at least theoretically, will have a heavy burden to prove when it comes time for them to try and secure a favorable verdict or collect a settlement.

The thing about the Ung case is that while the shooting took place before the lawÂ’s passage, the lawsuit, which was filed at PhiladelphiaÂ’s Common Pleas Court Dec. 30, comes well after the Castle Doctrine got Gov. CorbettÂ’s signature.

The question now is, will the law be applied retroactively, so as to give Ung the civil immunity protections built into the self-defense bill?

Or will the courts rule that civil immunity is null and void, since Ung deployed deadly force before Castle Doctrine became law?

ItÂ’s anyoneÂ’s guess how things will turn out, but at this point, it appears the law is on DiDonatoÂ’s side.

No retroactive protection

A legislative staffer for state Rep. Scott Perry, the York County Republican who authored the Castle Doctrine legislation, told the Pennsylvania Record that the law is not retroactive, meaning that anyone involved in self-defense shootings prior to its passage would have had to prove they attempted to retreat from a threat first before deploying deadly force.

That also goes for the civil immunity provision, meaning Ung could be on the hook for compensatory damages should the case end up in a plaintiffÂ’s verdict.

Some attorneys who specialize in Pennsylvania firearms laws are eagerly awaiting the civil caseÂ’s outcome.

“I just don’t think it’s going to be such a big player,” Quakertown, Pa. attorney Phil Kline said of the Castle Doctrine as it relates to the Ung suit.

One thing Kline, who is not directly involved in the litigation, does find interesting about the case is that DiDonato appears to be “throwing his companions under the bus.”

The lawsuit, while blaming the bars for over-serving patrons, also concedes that DiDonato’s friends, Thomas Kelly and Andrew DiLoretto, were “visibly intoxicated” during the night of the shooting.

Kelly, in particular, was mentioned in prior news reports as being the friend who seemed to have instigated, or at least escalated, the confrontation between both groups of people.

Kline said he finds it interesting that DiDonatoÂ’s two friends were not named as co-defendants in the civil suit, while the complaint seems to imply that the friends may have been a proximate cause of DiDonatoÂ’s injuries, something Kline said appears to be contrary to the allegations in the criminal case.

Jon Mirowitz, a Philadelphia attorney who specializes in firearms cases and helped push for the Castle DoctrineÂ’s passage, said while the law appears to not be retroactive, attorneys on both sides of the court battle will surely try to prove why one side is more culpable than the other.

“The law isn’t what’s written,” Mirowitz said. “The law is what the judge says is written.”

Allegations

In total, the lawsuit names as defendants five Philadelphia restaurants and bars that the plaintiff claims over-served either Ung or the plaintiff's friends the night of the shooting, something DiDonato contends helped lead to the incident.

The establishments named are Eulogy Belgian Tavern, Khyber Pass Pub, LucyÂ’s Hat Shop, Paradigm Restaurant & Bar, Field House Sports Bar and EBT Businesses.

The lawsuit claims that the negligent sale of alcoholic beverages to either Ung or DiDonato's companions by the various businesses was a direct and proximate cause of DiDonatoÂ’s injuries. The suit alleges that the actions constitute violations of Pennsylvania's Dram Shop Act.

Eulogy and the Khyber Pass Pub are accused of over-serving Ung while Eulogy and the remaining defendant bars are accused of over-serving DiDonato's friends, Kelly and DiLoretto.

The suit contains an assault and battery claim against Ung, claiming that the defendant acted with reckless disregard for the welfare and safety of the plaintiff.

“Defendant, Gerald Ung, intended to cause a harmful contact with the body of plaintiff that directly resulted in harmful contact with the body of plaintiff,” the lawsuit reads.

The lawsuit also accuses Ung of negligence for escalating a dispute to the use of deadly force, failing to attempt to retreat from any perceived threat, failing to use appropriate, proportionate and/or reasonable force, shooting plaintiff when deadly force was neither required nor permitted, continuing to shoot plaintiff when [plaintiff] could not possibly have been a threat, carrying a firearm while intoxicated, shooting the person who was not the aggressor, and failing to attempt to flee the scene before inflicting deadly force.

The lawsuit claims that DiDonato sustained serious and debilitating injuries to his abdomen, left hand, left clavicle and back, back problems and other injuries, causing him financial loss for medical expenses.

DiDonato seeks compensatory damages in excess of $50,000 for each count listed in the complaint in addition to punitive damages and other related costs.

DiDonato is reportedly the son of prominent Philadelphia attorney Edward DiDonato, Sr., of the firm Fox Rothschild.

[internet troll]

Judge rules Detroit woman who killed boyfriend acted in self-defense

http://www.fox2detroit.com/news/loca...50002604-story

WJBK) - Charges against a Detroit woman were dropped Friday after a judge ruled she acted in self-defense when she shot and killed her boyfriend.

Friends and family of Pap Jenkins expressed outrage in the courtroom.

Holmes was accused of shooting her boyfriend in the face at a Marathon gas station early in the morning of March 4.


(WJBK) - Charges against a Detroit woman were dropped Friday after a judge ruled she acted in self-defense when she shot and killed her boyfriend.

Friends and family of Pap Jenkins expressed outrage in the courtroom.

A friend of the couple testified last month that he witnessed Jenkins assault Holmes at that location that night.

The defense also told the judge that Jenkins stalked Holmes, and she wasn't expecting to see him.

"When he comes, he blocks her way, and there is a physical confrontation where he has her hands around her neck," lawyers said. "At the time this gunshot was fired, Mr. Jenkins was engaged in physical contact with Ms. Holmes. You can look at their relative heights. He's a bigger guy, she's a small woman."

Prosecutors struggled to defend their client.

"I do not believe there was any testimony that Jenkins was strangling the defendant," attorneys said. "Instead at that moment she chose to shoot him, deadly of course, in the face."

In the end, the defense presented a stronger case, and the judge sided with Holmes -- a licensed CPL holder.

"It's clear from the notes that Mr. Jenkins at every step of the way was causing a problem," the judge said. "And he approaches her and starts choking her, and then she shot him. Case dismissed."

The courtroom commotion following the ruling does not sway the judge's ruling.

[internet troll]

From last September

Wal-Mart attack in Shawnee, second assailant still sought

A man arrested Sunday in an attack at a Shawnee Wal-Mart was released after police questioned him and determined he was not involved.

Several teams of police officers were back on the case Monday working leads in the search for a second suspect in an incident that left one attacker dead, a woman injured and a Good Samaritan shot.

The dead attacker, who was shot by a separate Good Samaritan, was identified as 28-year-old John W. Simmons III of Kansas City.

The woman who was attacked Sunday in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart in Shawnee was a 39-year-old Kansas City, Kan., resident. Police said Monday she had been released from the hospital.

The Good Samaritan who was shot when he intervened to help her was a 33-year-old Kansas City man. He had surgery Sunday night and remained in the hospital in serious condition Monday, said Shawnee police spokesman Maj. Dan Tennis.

Police said the woman was attacked about 1:30 p.m. Sunday as she was putting her infant in a car seat after shopping at the store near Shawnee Mission Parkway and Maurer Road. Two people approached and the woman was struck on the head, police said. A Good Samaritan who tried to help her was shot and critically wounded by one of the attackers. At that point the second Good Samaritan, a 36-year-old De Soto man, came forward and shot one of the attackers.

Police said Monday the woman who was assaulted did not know her attackers.

Police also said the first Good Samaritan was not armed. The second Good Samaritan was interviewed and released.

According to Missouri court records, a person whom Simmons had a child in common with filed a protective order against him in December 2013. Simmons was ordered to stay away from and refrain from communicating with the petitioner.

According to online federal court records, a man named John W. Simmons III, of the same age as the man killed, was under indictment in U.S. District Court in Western Missouri with possession with intent to distribute cocaine, with having a firearm while trafficking drugs and with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Soon after the attack, officers with a K9 unit located and arrested a man east of the store and said he was suspected of being the second attacker. Tennis said he fit the description from witnesses and he was located in the area. But on Monday police said they did not believe he was involved in the attack. He was released later Sunday.

“The man who was arrested yesterday shortly after this incident has been determined not to be involved in the crime,” according to a police statement. “Currently several teams of police officers are working on leads.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the Tips TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477 or Shawnee police at 913-631-2150.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local...#storylink=cpy

[internet troll]

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2017/...-bar-shooting/

FAIRFIELD (CBS13) — A man will not face charges in a bar shooting that left one person dead.

Fairfield Police identified Keith Lewis, 42, as the man who shot 20-year-old Alexander Itzigheine on Thursday night.

Police say Itzigheine threatened a group of patrons with a handgun at a bar on the patio. At that time, they say Lewis fled into the business. When Itzigheine entered through a different door with his gun still drawn, Lewis pulled his own gun and shot him, then fled.

Police originally arrested Lewis over the weekend for murder, but the district attorney’s office has decided charges will not be filed. The case has been ruled self-defense.

Lewis could still face charges related to possession of a firearm, but investigators declined to say what those charges may be

[internet troll]

Kenneth Blanchard acquitted of murder
By ED BALINT GateHouse Ohio Media Published: May 23, 2017 3:00 AM

http://www.the-review.com/local%20ne...tted-of-murder
CARROLLTON -- A stillness hung over the courtroom as the judge read the verdict: Not guilty of murder.

Kenneth L. Blanchard, 69, was acquitted Monday afternoon in the August shooting death of 35-year-old Michael Fairchild at a mobile home in the 300 block of Valley Street in Minerva.

Sobbing immediately broke out from a relative of Fairchild's in the gallery in Carroll County Common Pleas Court.

Blanchard, seated between his attorneys, was silent but closed his eyes tightly and clenched his mouth in apparent relief, avoiding a prison sentence of 15 years to life.

Jurors sat with solemn expressions, their verdict following several hours of deliberations spanning Friday afternoon and early Monday.

Moments after the verdict, Blanchard was free to walk out of the courthouse, first stopping to embrace his wife and then defense attorney Jeff Jakmides. Other family members gathered around. Relatives and supporters of Fairchild had already departed the courthouse.

Blanchard declined to comment, but his wife, Nancy, her eyes moist with emotion, said, "My heart goes out to the Fairchilds. I feel their loss tremendously."

The Trial

During last week's testimony, the prosecution and defense offered contrasting arguments as to what happened inside the mobile home on Aug. 31

Jakmides and co-counsel Stephen Kandel argued that Blanchard acted in self-defense when he fired four shots from a handgun at Fairchild.

[Article continues below]

Fairchild and Kenzi Blanchard, the defendant's late daughter, had an on-and-off relationship for several years, according to investigators. Police had said that Fairchild had been staying at the mobile home at the time of the shooting.

Jakmides said the mobile home was a vacant rental property owned by Kenneth Blanchard. Blanchard was routinely armed for his own safety when he inspected any of his vacant rental properties, the attorney said.

Witnesses and Kenneth Blanchard told police that he and his wife had driven by the trailer and noticed windows or a door open, Minerva Police Chief Chris Miller said at the time.

"He went in, he looked around ... (and) someone came out of the back bedroom immediately toward him and he fired four times," Jakmides said following his client's acquittal.



Blanchard's "immediate comments to police were, 'I've shot someone,' and the first thing he tried to do was he called the Minerva Police Department," Jakmides said.

The shooting occurred about 5:30 p.m., he said. No lights were on inside the mobile home, which didn't have electricity, said Jakmides, who emphasized that his client had no prior criminal record.

Two gunshots hit Fairchild's chest, one struck his wrist and another pierced his arm, the attorney said.

"This happened in a flash," Jakmides said. "There was no dispute that this was a very sudden thing (and) that he didn't have time to think (but) just react."

"I told the jury this was a drug addict that had trespassed in this trailer because it was vacant," he said.

Carroll County Prosecutor Steven Barnett said after the verdict that there was no conclusive evidence heroin use was a factor in the shooting.

After reading the verdict, Carroll County Common Pleas Court Judge Dominick Olivito Jr. addressed those in the courtroom, noting that Fairchild had been depicted as a heroin addict during the trial.

"We cannot fix death," Olivito said. "... Life is precious."

Reflecting on the verdict, the judge also said that jurors were "very conscientious" and reviewed all of the evidence presented.

The Prosecution

Barnett and co-counsel Paul Scarsella, of the Ohio Attorney General's Office, told jurors that Blanchard committed murder.

"We didn't think that self-defense was reasonable under the circumstances given that the defendant shot someone who was unarmed," Barnett said.

He also noted that the only evidence of Fairchild lunging toward Blanchard came from the defendant's statements to police.

Blanchard did not testify during his trial.

"The defendant's story (was) the victim was lying on the bed and he lunged at him and therefore he had (to shoot him)," Barnett said.

The prosecutor said there was "no evidence (Blanchard) was presented with deadly force." He added that "this was a case that had to be tried and the jury had to (hear the evidence and make a decision).

"We respect the jury's decision."

Turning Down Plea Offers

Jakmides said he staunchly believed in his client's innocence. He also credited James Pritchard, former Stark County coroner, who testified for the defense as well as private investigator Dana Yerkey.

Blanchard rejected two plea offers, one for voluntary manslaughter made before the trial and another for reckless homicide presented during deliberations, Jakmides said. The offers were made with input from Fairchild's family, Barnett said.

Citing his client's health problems, including cardiac issues following a heart attack in 2004, two knee replacements and spinal surgery, Jakmides said he believed Blanchard would have died in prison, even if he had served a few years.

But "I never thought for a minute he'd be found guilty

[jw34]

This one happened in Pa in 2012 but always stood out in my mind. Man on a bike defended himself against a couple of teens who tried to do him harm.

No charges for man who shot teens
65-year-old city man acted in self-defense in killing, wounding of teens, DA says

http://www2.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=361731

Thats the one I recall, and was going to look up, before noticing that you did list it.

Very local to me. And probably not surprisingly, the un-named 15yo who got shot in the neck had been a problem since probably the age of 9.

[internet troll]

I am including this in the thread because it was a person bringing out a shotgun that ended the encounter.


Anchorage fight ends with man stabbed in face, back
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/crim...-in-face-back/

A man severely injured a relative in a stabbing during a fight last week, Anchorage police said.

Court records show Ioane Semeatu, 42, faces one count of first-degree assault in the stabbing on the 700 block of East 11th Avenue. Officers responded to the scene at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday, prosecutors said.

Police initially described the incident in a message Thursday night as only an "assault involving a weapon," saying a suspect was in custody and asking the public to avoid the area.

A document describing the encounter, filed by prosecutors, said one of the victim's stab wounds was near his eye. The victim's girlfriend told police that the two of them had been doing work on their vehicles when Semeatu approached and slammed the hood of a truck shut on the victim, starting a fight.

"During the fight, (Semeatu) stabbed (the victim) in the face and in the back," prosecutors wrote. "When (the girlfriend) retrieved a shotgun from her vehicle and pointed it at the defendant, telling him to leave, the defendant left but continued to taunt them. He ran away when he heard police sirens."

Medics took the victim to a hospital with "very serious injuries" from the stabbing, according to the document. Police spokeswoman Renee Oistad said Tuesday that the victim was the suspect's brother-in-law, and that investigators had no update on his condition.

Officers took Semeatu into custody near the scene. He told them in an interview, prosecutors said, that the stabbing was an act of self-defense – but that there was "an ongoing violence" between him and the victim's family, and that "sometimes he wished that he had a gun so that he could kill them all."

Semeatu was held at the Anchorage Correctional Complex, where court records showed his bail was set at $25,000 with a third-party custodian required for his release. He remained in custody there Tuesday, according to a statewide inmate database.