Category: Feel Good Stories

Chief Tango sends us links to today’s feel good story which comes from Houston. The details are a bit muddled, but it looks like it could have been an attempted carjacking foiled by the car’s owner, while three gunmen tried to turn their lives around by taking possession of it. From the Houston Chronicle;

Police said a 32-year-old man meet two other men in the parking lot to make a deal for used auto parts. When the man got out of his vehicle, the suspects walked over to him and demanded his money and other items at gunpoint.

Police said the robbery victim, who has a concealed handgun license, pulled out his weapon and opened fire on them. One of the suspects, whose name has not been released, died at the scene. The other suspect was wounded and it is believed he ran away into a nearby field, climbed into a vehicle and sped away.

KHOU tells the tale of the second injured fellow;

The injured man drove himself to LBJ Hospital where he is being treated for a gunshot wound to the arm.

A third man was taken to HPD headquarters for questioning.

The security guard wasn’t injured. Police say the guard did not fire his weapon so it remains unclear who shot the two men.

The third man was apprehended by a security guard according to MyFox26;

When gun shots rang out, the security guard at Fiesta Mart alerted police and charged to the parking lot taking one of the men into custody.

So all’s well that ends well;

From the Huffington Post comes our Friday feel good story about Robert Vann Marshall who thought an order of protection is just a piece of paper;

At 1:27 p.m., he was released from jail. At 1:38 p.m., officers received a call from Marshall’s wife at their McMinn County home, during which she claimed her husband was forcing his way inside the home. Police said he was irate, suicidal and possibly armed.

“His wife called 911 and was telling our dispatchers that he was trying to break into the residence,” McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy told WRCB. “She retreated into the back bedroom, and at some point fired a shot and he was killed.”

As police descended on the home, Marshall’s wife told dispatchers that she had shot him. The Huffington Post is withholding the woman’s name because she is a possible domestic violence victim.

It took Marshall just 15 minutes after being released from jail to turn his life around.

Chief Tango sends links to the story of a Melbourne, Florida homeowner who encountered four men trying to turn their lives around inside his home. Some of them had guns, but so did the father and husband;

According to Melbourne police, three or four males — in their teens or early 20s — broke into the home and tried to rob the family.

The homeowner, however, shot at the intruders, striking one of them in the arm, police said.

The family’s dog was also injured, but no one else was hurt, police said.

The suspected intruder who was shot was taken to Holmes Regional Medical Center.

One of the playful youngsters, the one who was shot, had warrants one him before the break in. I hope the family’s dog recovers, the burglar, not so much.

Two stories of youths turning their lives around this morning, both of them from North Carolina. UpNorth sends the first about a business owner who responded to to an alarm at his business where he discovered two youngsters trying to turn their lives around with a reel of copper wire worth about $4,940;

Page says the business owner and suspects “got into a scuffle,” during which the owner shot one of the suspects.

“Apparently one suspect apparently charged (the owner) and to defend himself he fired a shot, subsequently hitting one of the suspects who then ran around the front of the house and fell and died at the scene,” Page said.

The suspect who was shot died, while the second suspect ran away from the scene, Page said.

Page later identified the suspect who was killed as 28-year-old Jesse Ray Walker of Reidsville.

The lighter-footed youth was later apprehended.

The second story comes from Chief Tango and takes place in Durham, NC;

Investigators responding to a shooting call about 1 a.m. found the man with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the upper left arm. A woman living inside the apartment shot him as he tried to break in.

The man’s name was not released, and police said he was taken to an area hospital for treatment.

So enjoy your morning coffee comforted by the thought that armed Americans are on guard across the country. I guess these stories are all getting old, but the real story is that they happen at all, almost daily, and go totally ignored by the general media.

Chief Tango sends us a link to the last chapter of the Charles McLaughlin story, a young man who turned his life around by breaking into someone else’s home;

[A] woman who lives in the home called 911 about 10 p.m. Sunday and said her boyfriend had shot an intruder. The woman told dispatchers she did not know the intruder and described a struggle before the shooting.

7NEWS reporter Tyler Lopez talked with a neighbor who said an officer at the scene also said a home intruder was shot.

“All he would tell us is that apparently some drunk or somebody tried to break into a house that wasn’t his and he was shot,” Jack Fried told Lopez.

The article goes that McLaughlin had “a six-page Colorado criminal history, including arrests for burglary, auto theft, resisting arrest, DUI and violating of a protection order.”

Chief Tango sends us a link to the story of a low-rent home invasion in which a 20-year-old man’s life was turned around by a rural resident of LaPorte County, Indiana. The youngster rode a moped to the scene and attacked the resident with a hatchet;

Sheriff Michael Mollenhauer tells FOX28 News that a man was in his home on E. 1000 North between N. 650 E and North 700 East when he was woken up by the sound of breaking glass. The homeowner told police he found someone in his house carrying a hatchet. The homeowner fought with the intruder, then shot the man, killing him.

Investigators believe the suspect drove a moped to the home and broke in through a rear window. They think he is from Three Oaks Township, MI but his name has not been released at this time. Police do not think the two men knew each other.

There’s video of the news report at this link.

Chief Tango sends us a link to the story about a homeowner in south Wichita who turned around the life of one man when two broke into his house and set off his alarm system;

“Two guys came out of the bathroom and told me that this was their friend’s house and I needed to get out,” he said. “I told them it was my house and I pulled my gun out.”

Blakney said one of the men came at him with a sharp object so he shot him in the leg. That man got away, though Blakney said police found a bloody shirt nearby. A second suspect was found and arrested near some train tracks in the neighborhood.

Blakney said the home has been broken into about five times before. He thinks the latest burglars may have been looking for copper wire or anything else they can turn into money.

“There’s so much scum that comes up and down through here,” Blakney said. “That’s one reason I don’t live here no more.”

From KAKE News;

The resident called 911 and moments later, officers were able to locate and take a suspect into custody nearby. That person wasn’t injured and officers were unable to confirm if another man, who may be injured, was involved. Officers are checking with area hospitals.

Chief Tango sends us a link to a Wilmington, NC story about a team of five youths who were turning their lives around by intruding into the home of a family that happened to own a shotgun;

The suspects face multiple charges, including first degree burglary, attempted armed robbery, second degree kidnapping, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and one charge of firearm by a felon.

Police say the suspects broke into a home at 1901 Colwell Ave. just after midnight. Callers told dispatch they heard a gunshot go off inside the home. When officers arrived they found a shotgun and blood on the floor. Investigators say during the invasion one of the victims shot Gordon. No charges are being filed against the resident.

Four of them have been arrested and there’s a warrant for the fifth while cops wait for his gunshot wounds to be treated.