Crime Scene With The Silhouette Of The Victim
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“‘You have a responsibility to protect yourself and your family in whatever means possible to do that,’ [Radcliff Police Capt. Willie] Wells said. ‘So, long as you can articulate that your actions were in defense of yourself or your property, then I think you would be justified.'”

That’s the considered opinion of a Kentucky cop who was called to a home after two men forced their way inside in the early hours of Sunday morning. The homeowner shot both of them. Twenty-year-old Kobie Long was carried out of the premises.

Long was killed, but the other man is in critical condition at University Hospital.

According to wave3.com, the defender and the two home invaders weren’t strangers.

[Radcliff Police Chief Jeff] Cross said everyone involved in the shooting knew each other and that there may have been some type of run-in at a party earlier that night.

The shooting is still under investigation.

There have been no arrests, and it will likely stay that way, Wells said. The shooting appeared to be an act of self-defense, and the homeowners hasn’t been charged.

Whatever the prior encounter may have been, the homeowner apparently woke to find two strangers in his home in the dead of night. Assuming that’s really what happened here, this was  the very definition of a justifiable shooting in a self-defense situation.

Rule 1: Stay out of other people’s homes unless you’ve been invited. Rule 2: Have a home defense gun ready and available in case you encounter people who ignore Rule 1.

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50 COMMENTS

  1. KY, my home state, is not perfect – but it is one of the few places left in the world where common sense still prevails.

      • Well Amy McGrath is going to run, lol, she’s a liberal Dem if you want that change! As far as Rebub challengers in primaries – no way, just not going to happen, he’s way too powerful, his political machine is unstoppable. So it’s Mitch or a Dem, period. But I agree, he’s one of the centrist big-gov problems with the Repub party.

        • I was listening to a local radio show today, and they had a segment on all the Hollywood types coming out for McGrath. Bette Midler, Chelsea Handler, and Alyssa Milano were 3 I can recall. All of them tweeted highly charged statements along with their donations.

          Gotta figure that’s gonna be good for McConnell in the long run. Nothing worse for a Democrat in a very red state than to have Hollywood types rant on your behalf.

      • Nor should they, the senator has been good for KY, and the US generally. Given his record on issues dear to Kentuckians he’s unlikely to be voted out.

      • Tired of all the “Texas is the holy land of guns rights” posts. Maybe a decade or two ago but now they are just middle of the road. 16 Constitutional Carry states say that Texas is NOT at the forefront of gun rights.

        • Lessee, 20 years ago Texas had only recently passed the first law allowing *any* form of carry, definitely not a leader. Still, moving steadily, we are now well enough armed that we can discuss confiscation laws with authority. And Constitutional carry is coming.

        • Our Governor, Greg Abbott, is as good as it gets for second amendment issues, however the big cities in Texas are very liberal and filled with black lives matter and Democrats.
          If you shoot someone you need to be in the right jurisdiction. So Texas does sort of suck but it’s the population of liberals, that you may have read about, who came uninvited. Coming soon to your state too.

        • Open Carry has always been legal in Arizona. And prior to concealed carry legalization concealed carry was a petty offense. Texas didn’t allow vehicle carry unless you were “traveling.

        • To put in my 2 cents re. Texas and maybe Kentucky.
          Wyoming has been open carry forever. Was Shall issue ccw but now is no permit in state. i.e. constitutional carry.
          Good to get a ccw if traveling out of state.

      • We’d all like to think the Spirit of Texas is one of the rugged individual exercising their rights to carry when and where they want, but it just isn’t true. A person cannot even legally open carry in Texas without a concealed carry permit. Here in Virginia we have to fight the Liberals who migrate in from DC and Maryland, but we at least can open carry without a permit.

        • We are fighting the liberal legislature and our conservatives that think that since they have a permit to carry then no other laws are necessary. I have ben contacting them and trying to get thru they and us have a constitutional right to carry and that a permission slip which can be rescinded at will is not necessary. We had Constitutional Carry on the docket to be heard and the damned liberal ( masquerading as a republican ) Bonnen made up an excuse to block it. One person blocking the will of Texans is unacceptable ! What is really disappointing is that neither our Attorney General or Govenor went to bat for us.

      • Ohioan here who grew up and still lives on the KY border and has been admiring their gun rights for years. always had open carry, had concealed carry long before Ohio or most other states, they’ve allowed permitless car carry since before I can remember. Their permits cover basically any weapon you can carry around, not only handguns but batons, switch blades, brass knuckles, nunchucks and basically everything else. They allow carry in alcohol service restaurants provided you don’t drink, have reciprocity with something like 38 states and are now constitutional carry. Kentucky makes Texas look like New Jersey when it comes to gun rights and has been for generations.

        Texas may be a special place, but you need to just tip your hat to Kentucky when it comes to gun rights.

  3. Rule 1: Stay out of other people’s COUNTRY unless you’ve been invited

    Rule 2: Don’t overstay your welcome (GO HOME)

    • The self defense claim is legit right up to the moment you stand over the downed intruder and finish him off.

      Some folks simply do not want to kill unless they really are forced into it.

      • Judge: Why did you shoot that man 17 times?

        Defendant: Some people jest need killin’, yer honor.

        Judge: Case dismissed.

        • After sixteen, he was still coming.

          The attitude of the local prosecutor and judges toward self defense matters at least as much as state laws. It can mean the difference between an investigation but no arrest and conviction for manslaughter or murder for the same act of self defense. Pay attention to news reports about the way self defense incidents are handled. They will tell you whether local authorities respect legitimate self defense or are hostile to it.

      • Personally, I think you have a duty to kill the fuckers.

        The law however does not agree.

      • If there is still movement, then they still present a threat. Plus, it’s your word vs. a dead intruder. Prove they were a threat and you defended yourself. Pretty straight forward as well.

    • Because killing someone who is no longer a threat is murder. If you don’t believe me than look up Jerome Ersland who was an Oklahoma city pharmacist who finished off a robber who was unmoving on the floor. Now he’s in prison for murder.

        • I hope you have a lot of money saved up because you will need it to defend against criminal charges if the forensics prove that the person you finished off was incapable of moving and basically helpless. In addition I think it very likely that you will be facing a wrongful death lawsuit from the perpetrators family.

          If you want to lose your freedom and potentially everything of value that you have go ahead. Me I will let the authorities deal with him or her.

        • haha I certainly hope you have a very good lawyer who will literally slap you upside the head if he ever hears that. Many people have ended up in prison thinking that way.

        • saying something online, is not the same as saying something to a lawyer or in a court room. You people need to calm down. If they are still moving, they present a threat. Prove it. The end. Any good lawyer would defend someone who can articulate beyond a reasonable doubt why they felt it necessary. You people act as if saying you would remove their last breath means you would stand over the top of them, grab their head and saw through their neck with a dull knife. Calm down. One more shot to remove the presence of a threat. Why? Because more reasons than are worth explaining to keyboard lawyers.

        • And you just stepped over the line from self defense to insanity defense murder. Do you have any family living with you? Is that what you really want – to go to jail because you have the upper hand? That’s what gives the rest of us a bad name when the media cherry picks your case. Maybe we should all just practice on the first shot or two and there won’t be that ethical and legal problem.

        • Ignore the keyboard lawyers. They act like because you put one more round into someone still moving, possibly for their knife (just sayin), that you are ISIS style executing them, or that you would NEVER be able to articulate your reason for continued firing. They love to hear themselves talk about scenarios that are easily dismissed.

      • Thanks for the reference. I remember seeing the video and asseting that he went too far when he came back and shot the downed robber (after casually stepping over him and turning his back). Chasing and firing at the fleeing robber was already too far. I didn’t follow the trial.

      • Yup. Ersland is serving life in prison for his actions. I’ve seen the camera security footage. It’s pretty cold-blooded. He walked past the perp to get a second firearm (his was empty) from the back of the store, walked back to the perp, and calmly administered a “coup de grace.”

    • These kinds of posts sure do bring out the morons. I’d imagine the reason one is still alive is that he is in critical condition after having been shot multiple times and was unable to continue to present a credible threat.

      One homeowner: 2 bad guys; one wins the room temperature challenge and the other is off to the ICU with felony charges pending…meanwhile the home owner is unharmed and uncharged, I’d like to think we would all call that a great (if not perfect) outcome.

      • I’d like to think it’s internet badass syndrome with all these folks. Either that or it’s just a dice roll whether they end up in prison for murder eventually. It’s not like we haven’t seen that happen to plenty of people who went from legitimate defense to ‘eh, one more can hurt.’ Even in cases where criminal charges fell through the person is often financially ruined.

      • I think it’s anarchist agitators. Been seeing a lot of anonymous fire bombs over the past couple of years.

  5. Clearly this guy was very highly trained and aimed for available center mass, while moving off the X.

  7. Maybe this is an occasion to start a new meme called “Kentucky Man”, which is kind of the exact opposite of “Florida Man”.

    For those of you who do not know, the “Florida Man” meme refers to people in Florida who do bizarre criminal stuff and frequently end up with extra holes in their bodies (as in bullet holes) as a result. Thus a “Kentucky Man” meme would refer to normal people doing normal stuff who defend themselves to great effect.

    • Maybe, maybe not. It will depend on whether the lawyer thinks he has a good chance of winning. Where I live, there is a self defense shooting about once a year. Although I pay attention to self defense stories in the news, I never hear about wrongful death suits arising from them. I suspect no lawyer would take the case because he would face a hostile jury whose attitude is that the criminal deserved what happened to him.

    • Negative ghost rider, this is Kentucky, which has both civil and criminal immunity statutes for self defense. Given this took place in the man’s home, KYs castle doctrine applies and the homeowner is immune to civil suit unless he is found guilty of a crime in the death…and he cannot be arrested without probable cause indicating that he wasn’t acting in self defense (SD is presumed when in ones home in KY). In Kentucky it is, as it should be, that the criminals suffer and the defenders don’t.

  11. I shot it it’s mine, don’t go dragging off my dead guy for your barbQ, stinking cops.

  12. I live in KY as well, we have both the Castle Doctrine AND Stand Your Ground Laws. If you break into someone’s house and get shot you are NOT going to be looked on as the good guy.

  13. Moved to Ky in 1991 from Ohio (Thank God), was one of the first to get my ccdw in 1995 I believe. Sorry Texas your firearm laws can’t touch ours. As someone stated in earlier post we have been at the forefront when it comes to firearms for the last 25 plus years…

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