Anaheim, California

From Los Angeles’ NBC4.tv of June 30, 2004

Man Foils Robbery Attempt With Own Gun

Robbers targeting a man at an Anaheim mall picked the wrong victim Tuesday.

When they approached him, the man reportedly fired his own gun at the robbers, possibly hitting one.

Police were still looking for the would-be robbers late Tuesday.

Port Arthur, Texas

From the Beaumont Enterprise of June 30, 2004

PA man shoots at home invaders

The latest in a string of home invasions here ended with a man shooting at his would-be robbers.

At about 1:45 a.m. Tuesday, two men kicked in the front door and shot into a home in the 4600 block of Evergreen Drive, said Lt. Troy LeBouef, with the Port Arthur police department.

The resident shot back, LeBouef said by phone. The resident was not injured.

About an hour later, a man was admitted to Christus St. Elizabeth hospital with a gunshot wound, LeBouef said.

Police are investigating to see if the man is connected to the home invasion on Evergreen Drive and one on Sabine Avenue on Sunday.

Montgomery, Alabama

From the Montgomery Advertiser of June 30, 2004

Man fires shots at late-night intruder

A Montgomery man fired back at crime Tuesday morning, shooting at a man who broke into his home and robbed him.

Herbert Beverly of 12 Polaris Drive fired three shots at the alleged robber, who broke out the window on Beverly’s front door to get in, Montgomery Police reports said. The incident happened around 12:40 a.m.

Once inside, the robber told Beverly he had a gun and demanded his wallet, the reports said. After giving up his wallet, Beverly picked up a .22-caliber rifle and fired. The man, who was not hit, then fled, the reports said.

Lakeland, Florida

From Tampa’s WTSP.com of June 30, 2004

Three shot during photo studio robbery

Three people were shot during a robbery at a photo studio. Lakeland Police say none of the injuries appear life threatening.

It happened just before 11 o’clock this morning at the Phillips Photographers Studio on busy South Florida Avenue in Lakeland. The store’s owner says a robber with a gun took $100 and shot employee Bradley Beck in the forehead.

Beck still managed to get his gun, chased the robber outside and shot him.

Phillips says Beck is an experienced target shooter who takes care of his elderly mother.

Police have identified the robbery suspect as Darrell Logan of Lakeland. During the gunfight outside the studio, a woman who happened to be driving by in a green van was also shot.

Akron, Ohio

From Cleveland’s WKYC.com of June 28, 2004

Man killed attempting to rob USO fundraiser

A fundraiser for American troops overseas became the target of armed robbers in Akron.

During the incident early Monday morning, a security guard shot and killed one of the thieves.

Akron police tell us that the two men showed up at a Las Vegas Night fundraiser for the USO.

One of them tried to jump the counter where the money was kept. Then he aimed his gun at the security guard.

Police say that’s when the guard shot and killed the robber.

The guard described the scene in a 911 call:

“He jumped the counter, he came in the door, ran across the room and jumped the counter. And we ran out the back. He chased us and when he came around the corner, he stuck the gun out and said ‘Drop it’ and I shot him.”

The thief who was killed was identified as Kevin Moss, a 19 year old from Cleveland Heights.

His accomplice got away and is still on the run tonight.

West Hartford, Connecticut

From Hartford’s NBC30.com of June 28, 2004

One Dead After Shooting At Groton Dairy Queen

Police: Owner Shoots Man Sunday Night

Police said a Dairy Queen owner shot a man who broke into the store Sunday night.

Authorities said the intruder was armed with a crow bar. The unidentified man died at Lawrence and Memorial Hospital.

Neighbors along Fort Hill Road said they heard multiple gunshots. Police arrived at the scene around midnight.

A store manager said the Dairy Queen closed around 10 p.m. Sunday. Police said the intruder broke into the store by prying a lock off the back door with the crow bar.

The manager said her boss was struck three times in the head with the crow bar.

Police did not release registration information regarding the gun. They are continuing their investigation.

From New London’s The Day of June 10, 2006

Hear The Evidence First

Shooting lawsuit may appear frivolous, but questions remain.

On June 28, 2004, Jarion Childs, 27, allegedly broke into the Dairy Queen on Route 1 in Groton after it had closed. According to the account provided by Stephen Botchis, the victim of the break-in, Mr. Childs was carrying a crowbar and wearing a mask. He scuffled with Botchis, the manager, who was alone. Mr. Botchis, 51 at the time, suffered injuries when he was hit in the head during the struggle, but he had a gun and fired several shots, killing Mr. Childs.

Now Mr. Childs’ family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Mr. Botchis, his brother Matthew Botchis, who owns the business, and the Dairy Queen company.

On its face, the lawsuit appears to make no sense. Why should someone committing a break-in, while wearing a mask and carrying a crowbar, have any right to compensation for the collateral harm that befalls him?

In fact, questions remain about what happened that night. The civil court system, as abused as it is with frivolous lawsuits, is one place where people can demand answers.

Eroll Skyers of Bridgeport, the attorney for the Childs’ family, said the lawsuit intends to get at the answers and to prove that Mr. Childs, a college graduate and one-time high school basketball standout and college player, did not deserve to die.

The autopsy determined that Mr. Childs was shot in the back more than once. This, Mr. Skyers suggests, shows that Mr. Childs was moving away at the time. He also contends that Mr. Childs was an “invitee,” not the burglar described in published accounts. He refused to elaborate.

Mr. Skyers said that because he represents the “victim” of the shooting, he was able to review the police investigation. The attorney for Mr. Botchis has not had the opportunity to see the report, nor has the public. In fact Groton police have provided little information about the incident. Chief Kelly Fogg said that a summary of its investigation should be available in about a week.

Attorney William Corrigan of Hartford, representing Mr. Botchis, contends all the information he has suggests that Mr.

Childs was a burglar who was shot because he threatened his client’s life.

Until evidence is provided to the contrary, the presumption should be that Mr. Botchis was the real victim who, fearing for his life, didn’t have the opportunity to analyze the motives of his attacker before he started firing.

And if Mr. Botchis did something wrong, why was he never charged criminally?

Further undermining the credibility of the civil case is the fact that at the time of his death Mr. Childs was a suspect in a cold-blooded murder.

A. Gordon Jeffrey, who was 89, was severely beaten while tied in his own bed on May 14, 2004. His face disfigured, eyes swollen shut, the Stonington man died two weeks later, about one month before the Dairy Queen incident.

Mr. Childs’ sister, Sonya Childs, told police her brother had planned to “jack” Mr. Jeffrey because he was bedridden and easy prey. Her statement is contained in an affidavit police used to obtain a search warrant for the apartment of Mr. Childs’ girlfriend. Though the sister later denied making the statement, Mr. Childs’ palm prints were found on a window at Mr. Jeffrey’s home.

The murder case remains open.

So is this lawsuit a tawdry and baseless attempt to gain a cash windfall from a tragedy? Or is it a legitimate attempt to get at the truth?

Only time and the evidence will tell

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette of June 27, 2004

Hill District home invasion reported

Shots were fired yesterday after a gunman entered a Hill District home only to be chased off by the occupant.

“I guess it was a home invasion gone bad,” said Dorjan Anderson, whose Brackenridge Street home was the scene of the home invasion. No one was injured.

Anderson said the gunman, Jason Barber, 22, is the cousin of the mother of Anderson’s four children. Anderson declined to name the woman. She and the children were not home during the incident.

In recent weeks, Barber, of the West End, got involved in a dispute between Anderson and the woman. Since then, the two men have been feuding. Anderson said Barber has threatened him.

Yesterday afternoon, as Anderson dozed on his sofa with his shotgun nearby, he said he heard Barber enter the back door. Barber then entered the living room and fired a shot that narrowly missed Anderson’s head. Anderson then fired three shots as Barber shot a second time from his .45-caliber pistol as he fled out the door and down a back street. Neither man was struck.

Barber had not been apprehended last night. No charges were filed against Anderson.

Askov, Minnesota

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune of June 23, 2004

A more representative headline would be “Armed civilians capture suspected shooter“.

Teen held in father’s shooting death

For more than four hours Tuesday, authorities searched this small town and the surrounding woods and prairie of Pine County looking for a boy who allegedly shot and killed his father earlier in the morning.

For more than four hours, the word was out that a 15-year-old boy was on the run.

So when the teenager appeared, armed with a gun, near Hwy. 23 just south of town early Tuesday afternoon, the three men working at a nearby auto shop — Matt Gebhart, Scott Jorgensen and Brian Volk — knew what to do.

They got their guns.

Minutes later, they surrounded the boy and talked him into dropping the gun. Deputies arrived a short time later and arrested the boy, identified by acquaintances as Dallas Wright, in connection with the shooting of his father, Norman R. Wright Jr., 47, on the front lawn of the family’s home.

(MORE)

Missoula, Montana

From the Missoula Missoulian of June 26, 2004

Shooting victim charged with attack on girlfriend

Last Sunday morning, Chad Hill’s girlfriend shot him in the stomach, then frantically called police to report what she’d done.

By late Thursday, Justice of the Peace Karen Orzech had signed a $250,000 warrant for Hill’s arrest on several counts of assault and child endangerment – and it was clearly the injured Hill who was in trouble over the incident.

As of Friday afternoon, Hill, 21, was listed in good condition at St. Patrick Hospital, where he has been since the early morning shooting June 20. Police had not yet taken him into custody.

A complaint and affidavit supporting the arrest warrant outline the charges against Hill: felony aggravated assault and misdemeanor counts of partner assault, assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

Hill and his girlfriend, Ashley New, had been dating about four months when she arrived at the hospital June 14, claiming to have been beaten outside Stockman’s Bar, the affidavit said. She had several facial fractures, a concussion, two black eyes, scrapes and bruises.

New said she didn’t know who attacked her, but the affidavit said an officer who responded became suspicious almost immediately, because it appeared New had been choked and punched by someone standing in front of her – and the injuries were so serious that whoever caused them meant to hurt her. The officer tried to follow up later, but no one would answer the door at New’s apartment at 2050 S. 14th St. W.

Five days later, New called 9-1-1 from a neighbor’s house to say she’d shot Hill.

The argument Sunday morning allegedly started after a night of drinking, the affidavit said. New tried to take a shower, and Hill got angry. He said he “was going to break the other side of her face” and started hitting and kicking her and dragging her around by the hair.

Then, the affidavit said, Hill took a .45 caliber gun from a dresser drawer, set it on the corner of a bed and said he’d kill New if she didn’t get it first. She grabbed the gun and backed out of the room. Hill then got two knives from the kitchen and threatened to kill both New and her 3-year-old son. New shot Hill the third time he moved toward the little boy’s door.

“Chad scared me,” the boy reportedly told officers later. “Chad opened the door and Mommy shot Chad. Š My mom got hurt.”

Hill also has a pending case in state District Court, on charges that he beat his previous girlfriend and hurt his mother as she tried to protect her.

Coburg, Oregon

From the June 25, 2004 Eugene, Oregon Register-Guard:

COBURG – Three robbers in a black Cadillac held up an Interstate 5 gas station and threatened to kill the clerk, but she drove them off by blowing out the car’s back window with her handgun, police said Thursday.

Officers stopped a car minutes later on Belt Line Road and arrested two men and a woman late Wednesday.

Three people drove into the Fuel-N-Go gas station at 33100 Van Duyn Road about 11:35 p.m. in a Cadillac with California plates, police Chief Mike Hudson said. One man went into the store, simulated a gun in his sweatshirt pocket and demanded money.

After the clerk handed over about $200 in cash, the chief said, the robber threatened to kill her anyway. That’s when the clerk pulled out her own handgun.

The robber ran out of the store, and a male attendant fought with the robber, who again simulated a weapon. The female clerk fired one shot, breaking out the car’s rear window, the chief said. The bullet lodged in the dashboard of the car.

California plates? That explains it–they weren’t expecting the victims to shoot back.

Augusta, Maine

From Augusta’s Kennebec Journal of June 25, 2004

Jury acquits man in shooting

A jury on Thursday cleared a Hallowell man of criminal charges in the shooting of his drinking buddy a year and a half ago.

Donald Hipkins, 36, was charged with elevated aggravated assault and criminal mischief for shooting David Storkson late on Jan. 11, 2003, in Hipkins’ mobile home.

Hipkins maintained he shot Storkson in self-defense after Storkson left and came back into the home after a scuffle between the two men. Hipkins said he feared for his life.

The jury deliberated an hour before finding Hipkins innocent of both charges.

“We were tremendously elated at the verdict,” said Walter McKee, Hipkins’ attorney. “In the end, there really were no winners because, unfortunately, Mr. Storkson got shot and, unfortunately, Mr. Hipkins had to face trial on a felony charge with a (potential) mandatory jail sentence of four years.”

McKee argued that Hipkins was entitled to use deadly force to protect himself and his premises.

Hipkins and Storkson were friends until the night of the shooting, which occurred as Storkson, his girlfriend and her children were visiting the Hipkins family.

The adults were drinking and witness’ accounts differed as to who started a scuffle between the two men that ended with Storkson astride Hipkins on the kitchen floor, placing his mouth over Hipkins’ nose and threatening to bite it off.

Storkson then left the trailer and went outside to his pickup but returned when he said he couldn’t find his keys.

Hipkins called 911 and was on the phone with a police dispatcher when he shot Storkson. The tape of the call, with the shot clearly audible, was played for the jury.

Silver Springs, Nevada

From the Carson City Nevada Appeal of June 24, 2004

Daughter kills father after he shoots mother

A teenage girl shot and killed her father Wednesday morning after he kidnapped her and two sisters at gunpoint and shot their mother in the face, authorities said.

Walter Nelson Ball III, 43, was found shot to death in his Jeep Cherokee in an isolated area near Lahontan State Park. The discovery came about 8 a.m. after his three daughters, ages 13, 16 and 19, made their way to a road where they flagged down an officer.

Police had been looking for the girls since 4 a.m., when their mother, Cindy Ball, called to say she’d been shot in the face by her estranged husband and that he’d abducted the girls.

“Detectives are investigating the possibility that Ball sexually abused the victims during the kidnapping,” said Lyon County sheriff’s Capt. Jeff Page. “”There’s no rhyme, there’s no reason. This is simply the most evil thing I’ve ever heard of in my career.”

It appears Ball eventually fell asleep at Lahontan Reservoir ,and it was then that one of the girls shot him, Page said. He declined to reveal which of the three sisters fired the gun.

“These girls were scared to death. They believed they were going to die,” he said.

The Nevada Appeal is withholding the names of the daughters. No charges are pending against them, Page said.

(MORE)

Alexandria, Louisiana

From the Alexandria Daily Town Talk of June 23, 2004

Armed robbery suspect shot by store clerk

“Lucky’s” luck ran out Tuesday night.

Samuel “Lucky” Parker, 25, died after exchanging gunfire with an Alexandria store clerk, Rapides Parish sheriff’s Maj. Herman Walters said. It was not his first hold-up Tuesday night, authorities said. Parker of 611 St. James St. robbed the D&D Texaco on MacArthur Drive less than 30 minutes before robbing the Sunrise Mart on Ulster Street.

Parker is suspected of robbing numerous stores throughout Rapides Parish, Walters said. He did not dismiss the idea that Parker could be involved in robberies in other parishes.

It was near closing time on Tuesday. The clerk, Tamir Abdulwahab, and two customers were inside the store. Parker walked in wearing a camouflage mask, dark clothing and a glove on one hand.

He brandished a gun, pointing it at Abdulwahab.

Parker wanted money from the register, but the clerk, whose family owns the store, refused. That is when Parker opened fire, Walters said.

Five shots were fired at the clerk. Shots hit the cash register and various items behind the store’s counter.

Abdulwahab returned fire. He shot twice, hitting Parker both times, Walters said.

Jackson, Mississippi

From the Jackson Clarion-Ledger of June 23, 2004

Homeowner thwarts break-in try with 3 shots

A man who attempted to break into a south Jackson home on Tuesday left the car he was driving running in the homeowner’s driveway as he fled.

But that wasn’t the only error in his bungled attempted burglary at 1789 Shady Lane Drive. The first was trying to break in as the family was watching television, only to be stopped at the door by the homeowner.

“His eyes got mighty big when he saw what was waiting on him,” said homeowner Edward Blair, a security guard with Wright’s Security Service, who grabbed his .38-caliber revolver and stood patiently in the kitchen near the front door after hearing a racket about 1 p.m.

The door cracked, from the impact of the kicks, and the man stuck his head through to peer at what he could loot.

Blair fired three shots at the skinny man wearing a blue shirt, but didn’t wound him. Blair tried to open the door and chase the man — who bolted toward Raymond Road and left the still-running older-model blue Cadillac Deville in the carport — but the door was jammed.

“I wanted to see if I could catch him and take him down,” Blair said. “But he was running for his life.”

Knoxville, Tennessee

From the Knoxville News-Sentinel of June 22, 2004

(Requires Registration)

Woman says she shot ex-boyfriend after break-in

A woman told police she shot her ex-boyfriend Friday morning, but officers were unable to find any trace of the victim.

Shortly after 11 a.m., Knoxville Police Department officers were dispatched to an East Glenwood Avenue address after a woman called 911 and said a man had kicked open her front door and entered the house.

When officers arrived, the man was gone. The woman then told police that the intruder was her ex-boyfriend. After the man broke into the house and kicked in the bedroom door, the woman shot him, she told police.

Officers checked several locations but were unable to find the man, said KPD Sgt. Tom Fox.

The investigation is continuing, and charges are pending against the male suspect, Fox said.