Armed citizens making a difference thread.

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21.

Man claims fatal shooting was in self-defense



http://www.ocala.com/news/20170803/m...n-self-defense
REDDICK – The man who shot and killed another man last Friday said Thursday that his action was in self-defense and that he wished it had never come to him pulling the trigger.

Harrell S. Jeffries, 56, said he was asleep in his camper when William H. Markham barged in and beat him with a stick. Jeffries, whose camper is close to a wooded area off a narrow dirt road and is surrounded by other residences in rural Marion County, said he managed to grab a gun and fired shots at the 48-year-old man.

“I was protecting myself,” said Jeffries on Thursday, standing next to a pickup truck just yards from his camper. His left hand was bandaged from his elbow to his fingers and Jeffries said it is broken. His head had staples in it and he said his ribs were still sore from the blows from the stick.

Asked how many times he shot at the deceased, Jeffries said “I don’t know.”

“I tried to protect myself from dying,” he added.

Jeffries said he Markham were just “acquaintances,” then declined to answer any additional questions.

On July 28, Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called at 1:30 p.m. about a shooting in the 16000 block of Northwest Gainesville Road in Reddick. They were told that two individuals were involved in a physical altercation and one person was shot and the other was badly beaten.

Both men were transported to UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, where Markham died. Officials said Jeffries was released later that day.

Markham’s family said Thursday that the dispute was over a woman, who both men were seeing.



William Markham Sr. said Jeffries used to work for his son and that his son would give Jeffries money to help him.

Jo Ann Markham said her son was “a good guy and everyone who knew him liked him. He was always trying to help someone. That was the type of guy he was,” she said.

She said he loved to hunt and fish and help take care of their 180-acre property in Reddick. He lived on the property with his parents and had a teenage son.

“He and I were partners. We hunt and fish together. I lost my son and my best friend,” his mother said. “He always told me that he loved me. We were very close.”

The couple said their son’s funeral is set for Aug. 12 at Hiers-Baxley Funeral Home on East Silver Springs Boulevard, with the viewing at 10 a.m. and the service at 11 a.m.

The case is in the hands of the State Attorney’s Office for review. The Markhams said they want to wait until the investigation is concluded before saying too much more.

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22.

Man behind shooting at gas pump may not face charges


http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/...t-face-charges
MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) -
A man is recovering in the hospital after he was shot while pumping gas at Kroger in Arlington. New information from investigators suggests the person who shot him may not face charges.

According to Shelby County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Earle Farrell, the shooting happened Saturday night when an estranged husband attacked his wife and another man.

"He showed up with some kind of tire tool and tried to attack the man sitting in the car with her," Farrell said.

Investigators say the man in the car pulled out his gun and shot the woman's husband in the head and stomach. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. He is now listed as stable.

"It's a domestic situation. This could have happened anywhere...at their house. It just turned out to be at this gas station," Farrell said.

The sheriff's office said the shooter will likely not face charges because he was acting in self-defense. If the man who was shot recovers, Farrell said he could face aggravated assault charges.

Shelby County Sheriff's Office does not plan on increasing patrols in the area.

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23.

Surprise discovery clears Syracuse man of murder an hour before trial



http://www.syracuse.com/crime/index....ore_trial.html
Syracuse, NY -- For more than a year, Woodrow Holmes had sparred with numerous lawyers assigned to defend him in a November 2015 murder case. One judge even suggested he should represent himself.

Holmes, 31, was finally due to stand trial this week in the shooting of Kingston Ellis inside a Hawley Avenue residence. His current two lawyers -- the fifth and sixth assigned to the case -- had been working long hours trying to prep his defense.

But a surprise discovery by prosecutor Robert Moran ultimately cleared Holmes of murder, both sides said.

Holmes is still the man believed to have shot and killed Ellis. But a new fact changed everything: Ellis was armed himself, Moran said.

Not only that, but Ellis was standing between Holmes and the door when Holmes tried to leave after a fight, the prosecutor said. Others at the scene took Ellis's gun and concealed it before police arrived.

That revelation made for a clear case of self-defense for Holmes, Moran said. Holmes shot Ellis three times, killing him, authorities said.

Holmes isn't scot-free, by any stretch: he used an illegal gun to shoot Ellis. So Monday, he pleaded guilty to illegal weapon possession.

But instead of a possibility of 25 years to life in prison for murder, Holmes will get 10 years for criminal possession of a weapon when sentenced next month.


Moran said he had no inkling that Ellis also had a gun until witnesses mentioned it Sunday night. Those witnesses had been flown in from out-of-town to testify at the trial, he said.

And they didn't have first-hand knowledge of the gun, Moran said. So early Monday, the day trial was supposed to begin, the prosecutor questioned an eyewitness about the gun.

And after some prodding, the witness confirmed that Ellis had a gun in his waistband, Moran said. The prosecutor said the same witness had denied that Ellis had a gun in earlier interviews.

If it wasn't for the suggestion by the out-of-town witnesses, no one might have ever known about the gun, Moran said.

Defense lawyer Ben Coffin acknowledged that the prosecutor approached him with the information Monday morning. It was 9:30 a.m. before the information was confirmed, only an hour before trial was supposed to start.

Ellis did not use the gun, but it was visible in his waistband, Coffin said.

"Before police arrived, a couple of (Ellis's) friends had taken the gun and hidden it," Coffin said.

Coffin said he suspected that Ellis had a gun, but didn't know if he would have been able to draw that out at trial. It's not clear what Holmes told his lawyers about the case -- that's confidential.


The incident started when Holmes came to the Hawley Avenue residence to intervene in a domestic dispute between Ellis and a woman, authorities said.

When Holmes arrived around 2:25 a.m. Nov. 14, 2015, he and Ellis got into a fight, police have said.

When Holmes tried to leave, Ellis was standing between him and the door, Moran said. And now it's clear he was armed.

Holmes remains in jail on the weapons conviction. He'll be sentenced Aug. 21.

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24. It took dumping 44 stories over two days, but my bookmarks are clear.

Randle Shooting Death Ruled a Homicide; Investigation Ongoing
Details: Prosecutor Has Not Determined if Charges Will Be Filed; Shooter Claims Self-Defense



http://www.chronline.com/crime/randl...233256bc7.html
The Lewis County Coroner’s Office on Tuesday identified the man shot and killed July 4 in Randle as 51-year-old transient Dusty Phelps.

An autopsy was conducted last week. His cause of death was determined to be a penetrating gunshot wound to the head, and the manner of death classified as homicide.

Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer explained that the coroner’s determination that the death was a result of homicide does not correspond with criminal charges.

The word homicide “simply means that one person took another person’s life,” Meyer said.

It doesn’t take into account whether the killing was justified or an act of self-defense, he said.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office is still actively investigating the incident. Meyer said his office will review the Sheriff’s Office’s report of the shooting when it is complete and make a decision on any possible charges at that point.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded at 7:14 p.m. Tuesday to a report of a fatal shooting off Forest Service Road 2801 near Cispus Road in Randle.

The 911 caller, a 63-year-old Glenoma man, reported that he shot a man at a campsite in self-defense. The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, Washington State Patrol, Morton Police Department and the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife responded.

The man reported that he and his wife went to another part of the campground in their vehicle to confront Phelps, who was allegedly discharging a gun in an unsafe manner, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The man reported Phelps fired several shots at the vehicle before he returned fire with one shot, striking Phelps in the head and causing his death.

A press release from the Sheriff’s Office last week noted that evidence at the scene appears to be consistent with the Glenoma man’s account. However, an investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at 360-748-9286 or Lewis County 911 Communications at 360-740-1105.

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25.

Gold Bar man shoots, kills attacking dog
Sheriff's office says he was bit while intervening in fistfight between two women


http://www.monroemonitor.com/Content...g/26/337/10726
A man shot and killed a dog that attacked him after he tried to intervene in an argument between two women on Saturday.

The 26-year-old Gold Bar resident had not been with either the 35-year-old woman or 18-year-old woman before their dispute turned into a fistfight, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Shari Ireton.

He yelled at them to stop, and the dog jumped from one of the women's cars, according to the sheriff's office, biting him on the leg. Ireton said it is believed the altercation was related to drug use.

911 calls came in around 5 p.m. that night, Ireton said. People were reporting that they heard shots fired and women screaming in the 600 block of Croft Avenue, or U.S. Highway 2, she said.

Ireton said the man was within his rights to use protection against the dog that attacked him.

“That is perfectly legal,” she said. “He will not be facing any criminal charges.”

The man drove himself to the hospital to receive treatment for his injuries, she said.

Gold Bar municipal code requires dogs to be on a leash at all times when not on the owner's property, with few exceptions.

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26

Concealed carry holder shoots back at gunman on Far South Side

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...807-story.html


concealed carry holder driving on the Far South Side fired back at a driver who shot at him early Monday on a feeder ramp to the Bishop Ford Freeway, authorities said.

The concealed carry holder, 39, was driving a white 2015 Dodge Charger south in the 9500 block of South Stony Island Avenue just before 1:25 a.m. when someone in a 2007 Chevy Equinox fired at him, police said.

The man returned fire, causing the Equinox to crash. The suspect ran from the scene, police said.

The Charger was damaged but the driver was not hurt.

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27. Take my advice, don't ever look up the search term shot dog, just don't ...... it's not worth it.

Report: Man fatally shoots pit bull that attacked small dog


http://www.journalscene.com/news/rep...56e499.htmlThe
A man shot and killed a pit bull that attacked his dog on his Summerville property, according to a police report.

The incident occurred shortly after noon July 24 on Lahina Cove in Pine Forest, the report said.

The man told officers two pit bulls approached his home and tore through a screened-in porch that housed his Yorkie. One of the pit bulls grabbed the smaller dog and started biting it, the man said in the report, so he "attempted every avenue possible" to remove the dogs from the Yorkie.


He said he even struck them with a broom, but the canines aggressively turned toward him and his wife and he feared for their safety and his dog's, he told police.

His wife then retrieved a 12-gauge Remington shotgun. He told officers "he had no other choice" but to shoot at the dogs. He said he shot one dog at point blank range on the porch, instantly killing it, according to the report. Police said they found spent shotgun shells on the porch.

The man shot at the other pit bull as it ran from the residence without injuries, the report said.

Police said the Yorkie survived but suffered injuries to its neck. They also later located the pit bulls' owner who stated the dogs had gotten out of his privacy fence.

No charges were filed in the incident.

Dorchester County Animal Control also responded to the scene.

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28. One last one for today.

Homicide under investigation in Iron County



http://dailyjournalonline.com/news/l...3b2265f2e.html
Authorities in Iron County are actively investigating a shooting that occurred Friday afternoon in Hidden Valley Lakes near Annapolis in southern Iron County.

Iron County Sheriff Roger Medley confirmed they had a shooting Friday afternoon around 3 p.m. and one person died as a result.

“It’s appears to be that a neighbor went to his neighbor’s house and they had an argument,” said Medley. “One of them went to pull some kind of a weapon and the neighbor that actually lived there shot the other man.”

Medley said the person who died was Chuck McCabe. He added that the Missouri State Highway Patrol out of Poplar Bluff handled the investigation.

“Under the circumstances, we had them take care of it,” said Medley. “The man who fired the shots was brought in for questioning and then released. All of our deaths are investigated as a homicide and then it is up to the prosecutor.”

Medley said it looks like self-defense, but that is up to the prosecuting attorney to decide after looking at all the evidence.


“There will be an autopsy Monday morning,” said Medley. “Then the prosecuting attorney will get all the information and make his decision.

"During this investigation we found there had been some problems recently between the two, but as far as a long history, there wasn’t one."

Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop E Spokesperson Clark Parrot confirmed they are assisting the Iron County Sheriff’s Department with the investigation.

“The investigation is still ongoing and an autopsy has been scheduled,” said Parrot. “Once we get all the results from that we will release (more information).”

The Daily Journal will provide more details as they become available.

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Some random observations from the last couple of weeks. I've been trying to mainly make this a thread of concrete examples of armed citizens making a difference without the chit chat that makes it hard to wade through and find the stories. I appreciate that people have respected that request. I will copy this post in a new thread in case anyone has their own comments or observations about the stories or any of my thoughts.

New thread: http://forum.pafoa.org/showthread.php?t=324706

I'm willing to bet most of us have heard from antis that people don't need guns for self defense because they are hardly ever used. I've said in discussions "sure they are' and they have retorted, "then why don't you ever hear about it". I'm hoping this thread serves as proof that it does happen, probably a lot more often than people think. I highly suspect the stories in this thread are a very very small fraction of defensive uses that take place every day.

I wanted to take a look at some of the numbers from recent posts. I am going back to work on Wednesday meaning I will not have the time to find as many articles and post them to the thread as I have been.

Some recent numbers:

Going back to 7/27 there are 131 posts. 112 of the stories took place in July or August.

Since 8/1 there have been 120 posts, 74 of the stories taking place in the first 19 days of the month. That about 4 instances a day in August that I found in newspapers alone.

Of the 130 posts, 89 are straight up home invasions. Many others occurred in the yard or places of business.

Not to many of them occurred on the street. I personally think most people are more likely to report home invasions than using a firearm on a street, especially if no shots are fired. About 8 years ago a friend of mine stopped at a stop sign on his motorcycle. Two criminals were crossing the street suddenly stood in front of his bike twisted his handlebars so he could not go anywhere saying "nice bike, it's ours". He pulled out his guns and they took off. He did not report it for a few reasons. He knew there was almost no chance of the police finding the criminals, and it would have taken time, not to mention he was not sure if he could get in trouble for pulling a firearm. Basically he saw it as a waste of time. I suspect that a lot of people who pull their firearms have a similar philosophy. Basically I think a lot of defensive firearm uses do not get reported.

In 26 of the 131 stories, no shots were fired. The homeowner was able to hold the criminals until the police arrived.

There have been instances in this thread of people shooting criminals and potentially stopping mass shootings. But since it never becomes a mass shooting it does not merit the headlines.

And as an aside, while looking for articles to use in this thread, I have read hundreds if not thousands of stories where people were victimized by criminals. (Robbed, raped, killed, kidnapped etc......). The big difference between the stories in this thread and their stories...... the people in this thread had firearms to defend themselves. Not saying if everyone had a firearm thing would always turn out differently because a lot is based on the situation, but a lot of the other stories would have had a good chance to turn out differently.

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Sheriff: Fatal shooting apparently self-defense
Aug 21, 2017 Updated 9 min ago




http://www.dailyprogress.com/sheriff...456408c8f.html
ANNAPOLIS, Mo. (AP) — Authorities in eastern Missouri's Iron County are investigating a shooting death in a rural area.

The Daily Journal newspaper in Park Hills, Missouri reports that Chuck McCabe was fatally shot Friday in Hidden Valley Lakes near Annapolis.

Sheriff Roger Medley says McCabe and a neighbor were involved in an argument that led to the shooting. Medley says it appears that the shooter acted in self-defense, but it will be up to the prosecutor to decide if charges should be filed. The name of the person who fired the fatal shot has not been released.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol is assisting Iron County in the investigation.