by Robert A. Waters
Just to make it fair, I'm listing a few self-defense stories that were never reported in the national news. There are thousands more, but they remain invisible to most reporters. This is why many of us think the news media is biased. In order to make rational decisions on any issue, both sides of the story should be reported.
In St. Louis, two ex-cons added a new twist to home invasions. When a teenage girl walked outside her home to retrieve an item from her car, they placed a gun to her head and forced her back inside. Bad move for Terrell Johnson who was shot dead after the girl’s father retrieved his own weapon and opened fire. The second suspect, Cortez McClinton, was wounded. (He is now charged with several crimes, including second-degree murder.) None of the family members were injured, and the father was not charged.
In Phoenix, a woman shot Michael Lewis after he used a gardening tool to break into her home. When she heard glass breaking, the homeowner called 911, grabbed a handgun, and fled into her bathroom. Lewis followed and began punching the victim. As she was being beaten, the woman fired two shots, incapacitating her attacker. While in the hospital, prosecutors charged Lewis with aggravated assault and residential burglary. The homeowner was not charged.
A serial thief who was shot by an Escambia County, Florida homeowner pleaded no contest to burglary and grand theft. Ricky DeWayne Taylor and Teresa Sunday broke into the occupant's house while he was gone. Soon the resident arrived back home and found the intruders. Holding the two at gunpoint, the homeowner called 911. Taylor suddenly lunged at him and the victim then shot Taylor. Sunday, his accomplice, fled but was soon captured by police. The homeowner was not charged.
When Jessica McDonald opened the Fort Dodge, Iowa bookstore where she worked, a man with his face covered by a bandana entered and demanded money. McDonald held up the register tray, showing him that it was empty. But the robber was undeterred and moved around behind the counter. “We were face to face,” she said. “Then he, like, put the mace right in my face and said, ‘Give me all the money out of your register.’” McDonald then opened the store safe, retrieved a handgun, and pointed it at the robber. The assailant fled. Paul Tigges, owner of the store, summed it up best: “Anything could have happened had we not had that firearm in that store and she did not have access to it,” he said. “We’ll never know what might have happened.”
When Christopher Shockley attempted to rob a Stop & Go convenience store in Toledo, Ohio, he ended up in a body bag. Entering the store, Shockley encountered the clerk, December Long. He fired, striking her in the abdomen. But Long grabbed her own pistol and dropped the ex-con with a fatal shot. It turned out that Shockley lived in a nearby half-way house after having been released from prison. Long recovered from her wound and was not charged. In fact, a police officer who worked the case praised the clerk, saying, “I think it's wise to carry a gun behind the counter, because you just never know.”
In Bedford, Ohio, escaped convict Rodney Eugene Long invaded a home and held an elderly couple hostage. (Long was suspected of shooting a sheriff’s deputy the day before.) After several hours of being held captive, Jerome Mauderly was able to retrieve his shotgun. A single blast ended the invader’s criminal career once and for all.
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