Category: Feel Good Stories

In Dallas, Texas, 41-year-old Cameron McDaniel was confronted by two armed masked men in his driveway. McDaniel was shot by the pair and died at the hospital, but he took one of the thieves with him – the thief didn’t make it to the hospital, he was DRT (dead right there).

From New Orleans, Louisiana;

According to the victim, he was walking when he was suddenly body slammed to the ground by an unknown black male. Because he says that he feared for his life, he told the man that he was armed.

Police says the victim then pulled his gun from his waist and shot the suspect three times. The suspect then fled the scene while reaching for his waistband.

The victim told police that he still feared for his life and chased the suspect while shooting at him.

The suspect was taken to a local hospital by EMS where his condition is currently unknown.

Police say the victim has a concealed weapon permit and was not arrested.

In Lake Charles, Louisiana, Jyren Jacob Broussard, 17 and two pals, Philip Watson, 17, and Markeithan Stiner, 20, forced their way into a home. When Broussard threatened the resident with his gun, the homeowner pulled out his own piece and Jyren was DRT (dead right there).

Watson and Stiner have been arrested and booked with Armed Robbery, Armed Robbery with a Firearm and Obstruction. No bond has been set for their release.

In Hamilton, Canada, a homeowner was arrested for shooting an intruder;

Investigators say they were called about reports of a home invasion and shooting at a residence on Avondale Street near Barton Street East and Gage Avenue North just before 10:30 p.m.

When officers got there, a man walked out of the house with his hands in the air saying, “I’m the shooter,” a police news release reads.

He was then arrested without incident, police say…The homeowner was charged with aggravated assault, discharging a firearm with intent, unauthorized possession of a firearm, careless use of a firearm, and possession of a dangerous weapon.

From Memphis, Tennessee;

Police say an armed man entered a gas station on the 600 block of Highland St and began hitting the clerk.

According to police the store clerk fired shots at the suspect and hit him.

Police say the suspect fled the business but was found on the corner of Southern and Highland.

He was transported to the hospital in non-critical condition.

From Richmond, Virginia;

According to a citation, the homeowner found the suspect, Brandon Collins, 29, of John Ballard Road, Berea, in his house and allegedly held Collins at gunpoint. The homeowner then fired two rounds and Collins fled, the citation noted.

Collins left behind two baggies with suspected methamphetamine and a syringe at the home, according to the citation.

Later in the afternoon, officers responded to a male subject with a gunshot wound and located Collins. Collins matched the description of the subject who was in the home of the attempted burglary earlier that morning and the homeowner was able to identify Collins…..

From Rock Hill, South Carolina;

Deputies responded to a report of an attempted burglary on Keith Drive just after 3 p.m. Friday.

The complainant said he saw a man trying to break into his house, so he “ran and got a bow and arrow from the corner of his living room and fired an arrow” at the suspect as he ran away, the report says.

Deputies said they didn’t see any fingerprints or sign of forced entry at the scene. There was an arrow stuck in the dirt near the back of the house, the report says.

From Jeanerette, Louisiana;

23-year-old Ladarius Charles was released from Iberia Medical Center and booked into the Iberia Parish Jail on Thursday. Charles is accused of entering the home located at 2001 Frisco Street in Jeanerette.

After entering the home and encountering the owner, Charles was shot several times, Matthews said.

Another alleged participant in the crime was Michael Maxie, who assisted Charles after he was shot. Maxie was located at a home on Bank Street in New Iberia, and has been charged with home invasion, aggravated burglary, aggravated burglary with a firearm and attempted first degree murder.

Since the incident, Charles had been in the hospital recovering from the gunshot wounds. Upon his release Thursday, he was immediately taken to the Iberia Parish Jail and booked into the facility on charges of attempted first degree murder, home invasion, armed robbery and armed robbery, use of firearm penalty.

From Tulsa, Oklahoma;

Officers were initially called to the complex in the 3600 block of North Quaker just before 3:25 a.m. in reference to a report of an auto theft.

While investigating the theft, police saw a bleeding man run across the complex. At about the same time, a woman came up to officers and said her child’s father had beat her.

During that assault, the woman told police she grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed the man several times.

Police say the man ran off and forced his way into second apartment. That is where police found him. EMSA took the man to the hospital. Police say he was treated for non-life threatening injuries and then arrested for the assault.

In Houston, Missouri;

The shooting was reported just after 9 p.m. Wednesday at a home on Missouri 32 just east of Licking. A 34-year-old man called 9-1-1 and said he shot at another man who was trying to break into his home. The caller said he didn’t know whether he hit the intruder.

A few minutes later, the sheriff’s department received another call that a 28-year-old man was at the Licking ambulance base with a gunshot wound to his lower abdomen. An ambulance took the man to a hospital, where he is recovering from his injuries.

Good news for Harry Lembo in Rockland, Maine;

The Knox County District Attorney says he’s decided not to prosecute 69-year-old Harvey Lembo, saying it would raise issues of self-defense. WABI-TV reports that Lembo shot Christopher Wildhaber in 2015 after he broke into Lembo’s apartment to rob him.

Lembo shot Wildhaber when he tried to run away after Lembo pointed a gun at him. District Attorney Jonathan Liberman says prosecutors could not have proven guilt beyond a reasonable doubt had the case gone to trial.

Lembo bought the gun only a few days earlier after a series of break-ins at his apartment. Wildhaber was sentenced to four years in prison for burglary last July.

Chief Tango sends a link from Lumberton, North Carolina;

G.H. Smith, 66, was working about 3 a.m. in the back of his cell phone business on North Pine Street when he heard a loud crash. The noise was made by as many as five people breaking into his store.

“I shouted at them ‘Hey. What y’all doing?’” Smith said. “The other two jumped out the window, but the other guy started this way. It was dark and there was only this night light on … I hollered at him. I thought he had a gun because he was so bold. He was bad. That’s when I thought I’d better stop him right now.”

Smith made a conscious decision to aim his shotgun at the man’s legs.

“And I wasn’t trying to kill him,” Smith said. “You see that Bible right there, that’s my mother’s. Y’know my mother comes in about every day and she’s 84. I think if I’d of taken his head off she wouldn’t have come back anymore. She doesn’t need that extra stress on her. That’s the only thing that saved him, I think. It was a scary situation.”

From Gun Barrel City, Texas;

“My dog has two barks,” [Homeowner Carrie Dearmond, 60] said. “One is just a small bark, and the other when he sees something, he barks viciously. This was a vicious bark.”

Lundy, in an effort to find out why the dog was barking, came face-to-face with Matthew Dennis, 31, of Seagoville, in the living room.

While Lundy was confronting the intruder, Dearmond was retrieving a .22-caliber handgun from her bedroom.

Lundy said the man was confused when he told the couple he was looking for his child.

“We told him we don’t have any kids here,” said Dearmond. “He admitted to us he was on drugs.”

Even though Dearmond was pointing a gun at the suspect, he proceeds to threaten Lundy.

“He told me he was going to kill me,” Lundy said.

Dearmond held Dennis at bay in the kitchen.

“He looked like he wanted to pull a knife on us. I told him to get away from the knives, or I would shoot,” said Dearmond.

Dearmond, a stage-four cancer patient, said, “I really thought something bad was going to happen. I have never been so scared.”

Lundy was on the phone with 9-1-1, and recording the incident, while Dearmond held the gun on the intruder.

“The Gun Barrel Police arrived pretty fast,” said Dearmond. “But there were only two of them.”

Gun Barrel City Police Chief Damon Boswell said that among other law enforcement, the Henderson County Sheriff’s swat team was notified.

“We have a pretty good relationship with the sheriff,” said Boswell. “They came to the scene to help.”

Dearmond said she released the gun when the police ordered her to put it down. That is when the standoff started. Dennis barracked himself in a bedroom.

“He destroyed the room. He broke the window, the bed, mirrors, broke the doors on the closet and put holes in the ceiling. He trashed the entire room,” Dearmond said. “ I think he was trying to find a way out. But there were police all outside.”

While in the bedroom, Dennis found a 9-mm gun. Dearmond, whose husband died seven years ago, lives by herself. She said she keeps the guns for protection.

“I have never been scared here,” said Dearmond. “I have never had to use the guns.”

The 4-hour bizarre incident ended when Gun Barrel City Investigator Monte Mansfield negotiated with Dennis to surrender. No shots were fired during the tense standoff.

From Dayton, Ohio;

…a woman called 911 Tuesday night to report that a man she knew was breaking into her house in the 200 block of East Fairview Avenue. The woman called back a short time later to say that she shot the man.

Officers had sought the man, 53-year-old Darron Orr, in connection with “serious crimes” he committed on Monday, said Dayton Police Sgt. John Riegel.

The woman in the house was the victim in the previous alleged crime, officers said.

Mr Orr was DRT (dead right there).

From Batesville, Mississippi

Investigators with Batesville Police Department said the suspects were both 17 years old and had managed to climb up the electrical meter, onto the roof, and through an air duct in the ceiling.

“They walked around there and I put it on them and made them lay in the floor,” [Storeowner, Farris] Cole said. “And while they were laying in the floor, he was trying to get a hold of his gun to shoot me, and I shot him in the ear. I thought I had killed him because I turned him over, he was hollering you know, you shot me in the ear. So about that time, the police got here.”

Police said the suspect who was shot was taken to the Panola Medical Center for non-life-threatening injuries, and the other was taken to the Desoto County Juvenile Facility.

From Desloge, Missouri

On Saturday at approximately 4 a.m. deputies with the Crawford County Sheriff’s Department responded to the 1000 block of Possum Hollow Rd. in rural Bourbon for a reported burglary in progress.

According to a press release, deputies were told by the homeowner that someone had forced their way into his house. The home owner told the deputies he was in fear for his life and fired a weapon at the subject who had forced his way into the home. The unidentified man, whom the homeowner shot, then fled the scene in an unidentified vehicle.

[…]

Approximately 45 minutes later, Crawford County deputies were called to the Sullivan Mobil station for a report of a victim of a gunshot wound.

By that time officers arrived on the scene [the wounded criminal] was already deceased.

From Albuquerque, New Mexico;

In the security video, [Mark] Thompson is seen casually walking into a North Valley home on Sunday afternoon, putting on a jacket, wandering around, then turning on the TV.

At one point, he even grabs a beer from the fridge. The homeowner got an alert that there was movement in his home. He watched Thompson on his phone and called his neighbor.

Shandra Vestal lives across the street from that homeowner and didn’t hesitate to help.

“I went to my garage, my husband and I. We got two pistols. We met him at the cul-de-sac. He blocked off the entry of the cul-de-sac to make sure if he did have a vehicle, the man entering the home wouldn’t be able to escape,” she said. “As he pulled in, I passed him this 45 and then I got the other Ruger.”

That’s when the woman, her husband, and the homeowner confronted Thompson.

“Micah and I went into the home with two of the loaded weapons. Micah announced himself to the perpetrator saying, ‘I have a loaded weapon, get down on your hands and knees,’” she said. “At that time, I came up behind him and we got the individual on his hands and knees to lay down.”

At that point, they made sure he had no way of escaping.

“We got his arms and his feet duct taped. Then we picked him up, carried him out to the front yard and waited for the police to show up,” said Vestal.

When police showed up, they found Thompson on the ground, his hands and ankles taped.

“The police had told us that the home prior that he had broken into. He was wearing the same clothes he had stolen from that home when he broke into Micah’s house,” Vestal said.

This time, Thompson tried to talk his way out of trouble.

“He truly said, ‘I’m not trying to steal anything, I just want to be friends,’” she said.

From Mountain Home, Arkansas;

Mountain Home Police Chief Carry Manuel announced a suspect is dead following an alleged home invasion late Tuesday night.

In a news release, Manuel said police received a call at approximately 9:41 p.m. Tuesday night. The caller told police they had just shot an individual who was breaking into their home.

From Lexington, Kentucky;

It was an eventful Saturday morning for the quiet neighborhood. Chris Stevens, the homeowner, said a teen broke a lock on their daughter’s bedroom window and snuck inside. But she wasn’t home, instead he was greeted by the family dog.

Stevens says he woke up when he heard his wife screaming, so he grabbed his gun and pointed his pistol at the potential burglar.

Stevens says he held the teen at gunpoint until sheriff’s deputies arrived.

From San Antonio, Texas;

Police…said the owner of the van told them he was parked outside the restaurant, located near Loop 410 and McCullough, when another man broke into his vehicle.

Police said the owner, who was in the back seat at the time, fired at the suspect once then shot again as the suspect tried to run away.

The suspect was hit in the neck and died later at a hospital. His name has not been released yet.

Investigators are still determining whether the vehicle owner will face any charges.

Same story, different link;

Police said [39-year-old Anthony] Rangel and a woman drove into the same parking lot. Rangel reportedly got out and opened up the man’s van.

Officers said the van’s driver opened fire, shooting Rangel in the neck.

Rangel was transported and died at University Hospital and the woman who was in the car with him was not injured.

Investigators said the shooting was caught on the surveillance system of the restaurant.

From Mobile, Alabama;

[The homeowner] says he noticed something was wrong when someone tried to turn the doorknob outside his bedroom door while he was resting inside. The door opens to the deck.

“I didn’t know if he had a gun, I didn’t know if he had a weapon, I didn’t know how far he was willing to take it,” he said.

Then the suspected burglar went in the house through the other backdoor and flipped the circuit breaker in the entryway, according to the homeowner.

“That’s when I grabbed a handgun from my safe that I take hunting with me and I ran around to the other side. I had the handgun. I never had to use it, thank the Lord,” he said. “Because when he saw me, he took off.”

He says the suspect jumped the fence in the backyard and a getaway driver drove him away.

The victim is thankful his family wasn’t home and that nothing worse happened.

From Tulsa, Oklahoma;

Around 11:30 a.m., Tulsa County deputies responded to a fireworks stand near 65th and Charles Page Boulevard.

Witnesses said two men robbed the stand of about $600 in fireworks; the owner followed them and a shootout started.

As the robbers tried to get away, the stand owner jumped into the bed of the pickup and continued firing, before the owner got out.

A passenger was shot in the chest. A woman later found the body in the truck.

RGR 4-78 sends us a link to a different kind of home defense story from Sunapee, New Hampshire;

[80-year-old former Marine] Elsie Dabrowski went out to her chicken coop Sunday night as she does every night around dusk, closed up the coop and bent down to cut weeds with a sickle, said her son, Gene Dabrowski.

The [bobcat] lunged at Elsie, bit her left cheek, scratched her throat and bit her back.

“I kept thinking why? Why is it attacking me? It attacked me for no reason. I thought, ‘Why, why,’” said Elsie, a former Marine, on Monday evening.

Elsie beat the cat off her with the sickle, and Gene’s five dogs chased it under a nearby porch. He lives only 300 feet away in a separate house, heard the commotion, rushed to the scene and killed the animal with two blasts of a shotgun.

On Monday afternoon, state health officials informed the Dabrowskis that the bobcat was rabid, Gene said.

A good Samaritan story from Indianapolis, Indiana;

Officers were called to a residence in the 3400 block of East 26th Street, near North Olney Street, just before 11:30 a.m. It was initially believed that two people had been shot.

The female suspect, identified as Camille Wilson, 32, came to the house and met with the victim, who is also a woman. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) Sgt. Frank Wooten said a fight broke out at the home, and at least two shots were fired. One of the shots hit the victim inside the home.

A man who was there at the time tackled the suspect in the front yard and held her until police arrived. The suspect may have been pistol-whipped during the takedown. Both were taken to Eskenazi Health. The victim was in critical but stable condition.

From Jefferson County, Alabama;

Three people were shot at about 10 a.m. at the Black Diamond Paving on Old Jasper Highway. According to the report, an employee at Black Diamond Paving began investigating a car that was parked nearby. A man inside the car opened fire, striking the employee, who managed to return fire.

One of the three who were shot during the incident is believed to be a suspect in what might have been a robbery gone wrong. He had been struck in the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene. A second was shot in the side and fled on foot but was captured shortly.

The third who was shot was found walking close to the business and was transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Bobo and Hack Stone send us a link from Prince George’s County, Maryland;

Prince George’s County Police are still investigating, but say at around 12:30 p.m., two suspects entered a home in the 12600 block of Lusby Lane in Brandywine and then gunshots rang out. One of the suspects was shot and killed. The other one ran away. One of the home’s occupants suffered non-life threatening injuries.

From Tarpon Springs, Florida;

According to investigators, the suspect, identified as Daniel Morley, was banging on the door of a 52-year-old woman’s home. The woman opened the door because Morley appeared to be injured, but he began making incoherent statements and physically attacked the woman, deputies said.

The commotion caught the attention of a neighbor, a 31-year-old woman who was home with her 3-year-old child and armed with a gun.

Deputies said that resident opened her door and confronted Morley while he was attacking her neighbor. He lunged at her and she opened fire, shooting Morley in the leg, investigators said.

[…]

Deputies then arrived at the scene, and a struggle ensued between Morley and the deputies. They tried using an electronic control device on the suspect, but it had no effect. Deputies were able to handcuff him during the scuffle.

spd0302 sends us a link from Brooklyn, New York;

A 69-year-old man killed a 48-year-old home invader who pushed into his Brooklyn apartment Sunday morning, police sources said.

The two got into a violent fight inside the older man’s home on Union St. near Rochester Ave. in Crown Heights just before 10 a.m.

It’s believed the resident then bludgeoned the younger man during the struggle, leaving him severe head trauma.

The intruder was later pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital while the older man suffered only some bumps and bruises and is expected to survive.