While the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin saga unfolds in Florida amid protests and death threats, a different story is quietly playing itself out in the opposite corner of the country. But you might not know much about it, because this Northwest self-defense story isn’t getting much airplay on network news. Maybe because it doesn’t play into their race-baiting, anti-gun narrative.
This story just keeps going and going, because NW burglars continue to practically beg to be shot by breaking into other people’s homes. And NW homeowners keep obliging them by shooting them.
Four days ago we reported on a North Bend, WA homeowner who shot and killed the cocaine and alcohol-fueled madman who broke into his home and kicked down his bedroom door.
That followed a fatal shotgun home-defense shooting in La Center, Washington (also involving a heavily-intoxicated burglar) and a nonfatal rubber buckshot home-defense shooting in Portland, Oregon in January, where the wounded burglar tried to escape on his bicycle.
And another nonfatal home-defense shotgun blast in Seattle in February, where the wounded burglar hopped on a city bus to make his getaway. If you’re familiar with Portland or Seattle, you won’t think it unusual that wounded home-invasion burglars would try to escape on bicycles or public buses: it’s all about the carbon footprint after all.
And two days ago another home invader made an abrupt career change (from burglar to corpse) when he attacked a retired Puyallup, WA police officer. KING5.com reports:
PUYALLUP, Wash. — A retired Puyallup police officer shot and killed a man who was attempting to break into his home Wednesday afternoon.
Pierce County sheriff’s deputies said just before 4:30 p.m., a man who lives at a home in the 14300 block of 134th Avenue East was sleeping when people tried to break in. The owner grabbed his gun and fired, hitting one of the intruders. The group then fled.
Their next stop was the emergency room. According to deputies, the injured man was dropped off at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, where he later died.
That person has been identified as Kevin Fernandes, 21, of Spanaway.
That’s pronounced ‘Pew-allup’ if you’re wondering, but there’s more.
AND just yesterday there were two more home-defense DGUs, in which several would-be burglars ran for their lives at the sight of a homeowner’s firearm. One of those homeowners violated a cardinal rule of self-defense and fired his shotgun at the fleeing felon after the threat had ended, but no charges against him have been announced.
I’m almost embarrassed to live in a part of the country with so many lunatic, intoxicated or just plain stupid burglars, but at least at this rate most of them will be dead in a few decades if they don’t breed too fast. And I’m proud to live in a part of the country where homeowners are willing and ready to defend themselves.
My personal theory about the increase over the past hundred years or so of not so bright bad guys was the elimination of natural predators. With no wolves, bears or mountain lions to kill and eat the stupid folks, these folks breed and bless us with their offspring. Now with John & Jane Homeowner becoming afraid enough of the increasing numbers of bad guys are arming up to defend themselves, we can only hope that the herd of mutant scum that prey on the rest of us can be kulled out of the gene pool. I live in an area that has a meth lab problem, not super bad yet, but it’s there. I clap with joy and glee every time I see one of these operation blow up killing the druggies with it. I smile at every story where Joe Ordinary fires back at the mugger, or intruder and wins the fight. For decades, crime has been paying well for those that choose that life, nice to see the risk go way up for the folks that choose to take what is not theirs instead of working for it like the rest of us.
That’s why I don’t think bicycle helmets should be mandatory for children. They should be prohibited. If you’re not sharp enough to keep your melon from smacking the pavement, maybe you won’t grow up to be a driver who texts.
And for predatory pukes, getting your head blown off should be an occupational hazard.
Sorry, but I disagree about bicycle helmets. My son, who holds a PhD and is literally a rocket scientist for NASA, and who is an accomplished cyclist, had his life saved by a helmet. Through no fault of his own, he ended up head-over-handlebars. His helmet was crushed, but his skull wasn’t. I strongly urge everyone to wear a helmet. Just because you’re brilliant doesn’t mean you won’t have bad luck.
Couldn’t agree with you more. MY 13 year old now has 2 broken arms but, because he’s the only kid in Louisiana who wears a helmet, does not have severe head injuries. Sorry to go off topic.
My personal idea would be to require anyone who wants to live on the public dole to be forced to have contraception or, if religion prohibits, agree to give any offspring up for adoption.
Agreed 100%. More than enough people would love to shower that child with true love. No more mouths to feed, or medical care. Usually caused by lack of supervision. Drug testing too.
I’m sorry, but you sell your soul and Freedom, when you EXPECT other to take care of you. That makes you a big child. Children are at the mercy of the parents’ (taxpayers) wonts. If you want to live under the roof I provide, there WILL be some rules. Want to be a “whole & Free” person, show some self control and resposibility!
There should not be a “public dole”. Government doesn’t do compassion, just compulsion. And those “free” abortions some receive are paid with my taxes, a direct assault on my religion.
Some people are really free with other people’s money. That’s immoral.
People ought to use the blessings they have received to help those less fortunate; but they should not be forced to give anything. They should not be assigned an amount they “owe” for charity. They should not be limited to what groups or how much.
Have to say that wearing a helmet while cycling is 100% the smart thing to do. Used to race competitively and have been hit by cars twice where I was not at fault. In neither case was I seriously injured, but in one of them I would certainly have had major head injuries, since I stopped sliding on the pavement when my head hit the curb. Totally destroyed the helmet, but I walked away.
As for helmets. I was walking home one day and I saw a motorcyclist who was obeying the speed limit get hit by a car. He flew over the car and landed head first on the pavement He was wearing a helmet. He had to sit for a while, but was then able to walk under his own power.
It is the USDA welfare breeding program which produces more morons who would have starved to death.
That theory is in line with mine about why there are so many liberal moonbats in San Francisco: They’re able to survive there in its year-round moderate climate, whereas in most other parts of the planet their characteristic obliviousness to reality would have led them to succumb to the extremes of the environment, thereby removing them from the gene pool.
Well, there is something to be said for abortion after all: if the rapists progeny are not allowed to survive, their genetic tendencies toward abuse will not be passed on and allowed to fester in the gene pool.
Maybe Mandatory sterilization (“Nutting”) for rapists? And the lack of testosterone would help decrease the activity-level as well.
For ’tis the sport to have the engineer Hoist with his own petard
That Shakespeare dude was way ahead of all of us.
Nay grant credit hoisters unaware what petards are made.
Statistically, the criminally inclined are probably less capable, lazier and even less creative than their predecessors (including the current crop of gov’t protected financial criminals). Imagine if we had to depend on our criminals to defend us from invasion. Now that would be embarrassing.
Yeah I red a story about an off duty police officer shooting a burglar in his home. The suspect finally died at the hospital. My question is, if shot buy a police officer, in his own home, how was the suspect able to flee the scene? If someone is stupid enough to break into my home they will be carried out in a body bag. Or is it just the police who can not shoot straight? I don’t know, I really don’t want to bad mouth people who are doing a job I would refuse to do.
I know, really! No competent shooter should ever need more than one bullet to drop a BG. Personally, I’ve never missed the 10 ring, but sad to say, many “trained” shooters do so with alarming regularity.
Perhaps because shooting at a paper target is not nearly as nerve wracking as facing an intruder in your home in the middle of the night.
Sorry- I guess I didn’t make myself clear. I was being sarcastic. I thought the previous post was pretty silly.
As a matter of fact, I very rarely hit the 10 ring.
Don’t knock their shooting until you’ve been in their shoes.
Adrenaline spiking through the roof, dealing with an unknown that suddenly becomes very known, deal with return fire or the thought of return fire, wondering where your round will go if/when you miss – ALL of these can act to greatly reduce your accuracy.
The 10-ring isn’t moving, it’s in a brightly lit area, has a backstop and it doesn’t shoot back.
Orion
I’ve been in their shoes and, managed to take down the turds (multiple incidents). Didn’t miss once. Four inch groups are bad at the range, but work well enough in the field.
The big problem is money. Even reloading my own SWC to practice, I spent upwards of $75 most months. This when my agency paid $10,500 or so a year to a road deputy.
It’s all about the training.
Too true.
You’re an unusual LEO – Most aren’t able to afford the ammo nor the range time and their street stats show it, sadly.
You remind me of my neighbor and CQB instructor. Former Marine-Scout/Sniper, medically-discharged TPD officer. Got jumped by 4 punks who put a round in his hip, then all 4 suddenly assumed room temperature. He ran our training course specifically to get the adrenaline up and duplicate street situations. Required shooting from odd positions, off-hand, while carrying a sand-filled ammo-can in your dominant hand, etc. It pays off, but thank GOD for reloaded wad-cutters. He’d sell me a box of 50 .45ACP for $5 and we’d blow through $100 or more every time we went out. I’m betting you did the same.
Orion
I learned in the Corps, too. Fight like you train.
A couple friends and I would do what is now IPSC (?) and run around, shoot from cover, empty brass to simulate malfunctions, etc. After doing that for a couple weeks, we usually shot 2″ groups or better up to 7 yards.
As you said, real situations make a difference. Thus the 4″ groups on the corpse.
Maybe if the bad guy transports himself out of your house and dies in a hospital ER, that is a better outcome than having to scrape the brains off the wall.
But, your are clearly the better shot.
Most “pro’s” are taught to double tap (2 shots). In a nice, tight group, survivability drops dramatically. Even 2 in the Bicept (sic?) are you run a good chance of hitting the artery. Or open two good leaks!
No oen has ever been shot back at by a paper target. Square Range != Real Life.
Your 10 ring ever shoot back?
It’s one thing to be good at punching holes in paper; it’s quite another to put your round where you want it at 3:00 AM in low light situations with the “10 ring” potentially returning fire or shooting first.
I wish these stories were taking press time from the Martin / Zimmerman shooting. It seems as though many of our media pundits have the same wits as these burglars.
Our media, like most of the Left, is at war with reality itself. To report the truth would hurt their cause.
So, so well said.
+1 .. I’m stealing that sentence outright..
Why are you so surprised that the shooting of an unarmed young man on his way back from a 7-11 run is more controversial than the shooting of criminals caught in the commission of a felony?
Yes! And he was reading his bible while helping an old lady across the street at the same time.
I think you have been reading the wrong narrative. Actually, most of the early crap has been updated and refuted. You might want to get current before embarrassing your anonymous self.
I hate to pile on, DaveL, but you’re terriby uninformed. You must be getting your news from CNN or NBC or MSNBC or your local liberal rag.
What part is he uninformed about? Young, or unarmed?
He became ARMED the moment he began beating Zimmerman’s head against the pavement, and he became the aggressor after he physically assaulted Zimmerman, jumped on him and then began using that sidewalk as a weapon.
Zimmerman may or may not have acted stupidly. Martin apparently acted stupidely and then criminally.
Orion
So your position is that he was armed with the Sidewalk?
Sounds silly, doesn’t it? But anything can be used as a weapon and while smashing Zimmerman’s head into the sidewalk, the sidewalk became Martin’s de facto weapon with the same effect as if Martin had picked up a chunk of concrete and was bashing Zimmerman’s head with it.
It’s all relative, as Uncle Albert once explained…:P
Orion
And you believe that that happened?
Judging from the available evidence and testimony that I’ve seen and read, Ah-Yup. That position may change as more information becomes available of course.
I’m guessing you fall more on the ‘sweet innocent little child who was set upon by the vicious, hulking, racist, white killer who was hunting black children for sport’ side of things… 😉
Orion
I don’t think that Travon was any more innocent than any other 17 year old boy. I also don’t think that Zimmerman was hunting Black Children. I am extreamly skeptical of Zimmerman’s story, and I think that the Police department is in Full CYA mode.I don’t think that Zimmerman was as badly hurt as his father and lawyer are claiming, and I don’t believe that he pulled his gun and shot Martin while the kid was on top of him.
Do you believe in ghost stories Mr. Commentator?
I read DaveL’s comment differently than everyone else who replied to his comment. I read it not as DaveL mis-stating the facts, but as pointing out that, given the media bias we’re all familiar with and given the version of events that the media originally pushed, it makes sense that the media would intentionally hype the Zimmerman/Martin shooting as much as they could and ignore any less hype-able self-defense incidents.
Were thinning out the gene pool here in the Northwest!!
Evolution in action.
Y’all need more range time, too many “nonfatal” incidents.. Keep these crims out of the gene pool..
I’m pretty sure it’s the lack of knowledge about the gun laws. Criminals here assume it’s pretty liberal, like california, and it is not at all… not at all.
California home defense laws and criminal laws are actually pretty conservative, the culture notwithstanding. Some enters your home, he’s presummed to be there to do you harm and you are preummed to be in fear of death or severe bodily injury. All to the good, unless you want to take your gun outside in our urban areas–and then it is all bad.
Mark N. – Unfortunately that’s not true, and has not been true for decades. The California rule is that it does not matter if an armed intruder has broken into your home. To do anything self-defense about it, you have to be, “In immediate fear of your life.”
I have seen veteran law-enforcement professionals say it over and over on TV,”It dosen’t matter if they have broken into your home. You don’t have the right to defend yourself.”
Which is at least a part of why I refugeed out of the
mouldering Golden State thirteen years ago.
With out getting into the pitfalls of the whole social darwinism thing (Sig heil!), I will say that we up here in the North West, myself included, have a long and proud history of self reliance. Certain cities like Portland and Seattle might not have that spirit anymore, but its alive and well through out most of the Pac North West. And it makes me proud to hear about people defending themselves.
Social Darwinism is merely the application of Darwin’s theory of Evolution to the human animal. If Darwin is correct as a matter of science, then his theory applies to us as much as the law of gravity.
Humans differ from all other animals in their ability to make a decision to dislike the results, and apply free will and intelligence to avoid or mitigate them.
“Social Darwinism” was a term invented by eugenicists to slander people who opposed the idea of breeding people like livestock.
When I lived in San Francisco the City culture was PC anti-gun, crime was high, and there was one decent BBQ place.
Here in Portland the city culture is still mostly pro-gun, crime is still mostly low, and there are a number of really good BBQ places.
It would be interesting to learn if the retired Police Officer was home carrying.
i don’t know
“Maybe because it doesn’t play into their race-baiting, anti-gun narrative.”
Perhaps I am missing a snark here. If this was meant seriously, may I make a different suggestion for the relative lack of coverage? Since there is no controversy surrounding what happened: good guy soots bad guy. With the Zimmerman/Martin shooting, we have no true knowledge of what happened . . . Which gives everyone an opportunity to speculate ad naseum about the events, the motives, and the fallout.
We have a good idea what happened because the evidence supports Zimmerman’s statement.
“fired his shotgun at the fleeing felon after the threat had ended”
In some states this is not illegal and is a-ok.
We like to play here, too!
http://blogs.sacbee.com/crime/archives/2012/04/valley-hi-home-invaders-flee-after-exchange-of-gunfire.html
I am an NRA member and am glad the law recognizes the fundamental human right of self defense, but even I am put off by some of the discussion of death and serious bodily injury in this thread. When violence is necessary, it is necessary, but some of the above is over the top.
Hooah. And tends to make folks look bloodthirsty.
As many before me have pointed out, if you MUST use your weapon in self-defense, your life is going to be drastically altered no matter what. Even if you avoid criminal prosecution, you can bet that you will be dealing with civil matters and the expense will be ruinous in most cases.
Home invasions SOUND so clear-cut, but as we all know a decent attorney can make YOU look like the aggressor and the criminal, gunning down a poor, confused, innocent child who merely made a tiny mistake or was only seeking shelter or a hiding place.
Orion
What, no comment from mikeb03200 or whatever his number is?
Perhaps he’d like this one better:
http://www.freep.com/comments/article/20120406/NEWS01/120406001/Detroit-police-Woman-38-fatally-shoots-intruder
Or maybe he thinks she made it all up – including the dead criminal…..
MikeB302000 lives in Italy. His lack of commentary is often due to the time difference.
His time’s an hour off mine – it’s only 02:45 here…….
Ready, willing, and legally permitted to defend themselves. Tough rocks if you live in certain parts of the Northeast.
Well I was told in my CHL class in Texas that 80 percent of the people shot with a pistol survive. Roughly speaking your accuracy is cut in half under the stress of a real shoot. Shot gun bird shot at inside house and room distances hardly spreads at all and creates a very nasty wound. An emergency room doctor told me that with bird shot you can only get the obvious bleeders. You can’t go digging for every shot, and you just have to wait to see if the patient is bleeding somewhere internally. That is if he survived the initial blast. A hit to the torso with a center fire rifle expanding hunting bullet has a rather high fatality rate.
Obama voters continue their home invasions with increasingly poor results.
We do not see any of this news in the northeast! I am a ‘Nam vet and an unashamed democrat and Obama supporter who no longer owns a gun, but I fully support the home-style justice delivered by my brothers and sisters up there — if some sub-human is vile enough to break into a home like a “germ” breaks into a healthy body, a homeowner’s bullet is medicine of the right kind to be administered by responsible, law-abiding and gun-0wning “doctors.” Good work all of you!
I never would have suspected such a responce from an outspoken Obama supporter.
Well said, sir. 🙂
There are more things in heaven and earth, Dave, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Dear Nam Vet:
You must really conflicted to be an obama supporter AND a castle doctrine supporter. I’m sorry that your service in ‘Nam caused you to go to the communist side of our society.
Steve
@Obama democrat is saying: “I support the right to self defense, and I also support a politician who is doing everything he can to take that right away from me.”
What has Obama done try to take away the right to self-defense? I’m not aware of any federal legislature to overturn state laws concerning defense of property, nor am I aware of any new federal legislature restricting the excercise of Second Amendment rights.
You can’t just say something and make it true. Unless he’s signed legislature, he hasn’t done squat. He can say he supports this, that, and the other thing all day long, but until he puts pen to paper, it remains what it always was: political hot air.
Facts over emotions, sir. To disagree with someone is not to be able to speak for them.
Maybe you should look into the facts that A) communism and socialism aren’t the same things, and never have been, and; B) the United States has had socialist programs for a looong time.
Public parks? Socialism.
Government-run public transit? Socialism.
Tax-funded police? Socialism.
Ever hear of the Hoover Dam? Socialism.
Check yourself before you wreck yourself.
If those count as “socialism”, your definition is so over-broad as to be entirely useless – not to mention quite at odds with the definition the rest of the world uses.
Also, communism is a specific form of socialism. By it’s own definition, actually.
You’re right… so I’ll let the current President speak for himself:
That “under the radar” comment seem to be refer to Operation Fast and Furious. Go check the details there, then think about whether Obama wants to limit the rights of Americans to defend themselves.
If those count as “socialism”, your definition is so over-broad as to be entirely useless – not to mention quite at odds with the definition the rest of the world uses.
Almost verbatim, this is my response anytime a conservative or libertarian calls anything “socialist”. I once saw a Fox News commentator ask if Warren Buffett — the most successful capitalist in human history — was a socialist.
That “under the radar” comment seem to be refer to Operation Fast and Furious. Go check the details there, then think about whether Obama wants to limit the rights of Americans to defend themselves.
This is unsubstantiated speculation, no matter how many people on the internet and in the media have said otherwise (bandwagoning is not the same as verifiable fact), and in any case what Obama *wants* to do is beside the point. Okto’s argument is that Obama has not enacted any anti-gun legislation, and this argument is factually correct, while Bob’s argument is not.
As far as I know, the one piece of gun-related legislation that Obama has enacted changed federal law to allow concealed carry in national parks, which, as far as I know, is not about furthering gun control.
Obama may in fact want increased gun control, and he very well may legislate toward this end in the future, but, again, saying what he wants to do or what he will do is speculation, and saying he has already done so while president is patently false.
“Their next stop was the emergency room. According to deputies, the injured man was dropped off at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, where he later died. ”
It would seem to me that we ought to push for cameras at the ER’s entryway to catch the license plate numbers of the guys who drop off their buddies. Once the news gets around about this, they may not drop them off at all. A Win-Win either way.
Maybe this will be what it takes to convince my parents that armed self defense is not a bad thing…they live a mile from where this happened. Good job on the pronunciation guide.
Robert Farago says:
April 9, 2012 at 21:15
Do you believe in ghost stories Mr. Commentator?
Nope.
Well you’re in one. Or something like that.
Overall the Obama administration has not been overly anti-gun. In fact, it has done a few things that are pro-gun. Passing legislation allowing guns into federal parks comes to mind. I have this against it though – there are are bunch of M1 carbines in South Korea that are currently under an import ban.
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