Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

From Philadelphia’s CBS3,com of June 30, 2006

Police: Retired Philadelphia Cop Shoots Intruder

A retired Philadelphia Police Officer opened fire on an intruder late Thursday afternoon in Northeast Philadelphia.

Police say the retired cop was checking on a friend’s house in the 10000 block of Bustleton Avenue when he encountered an intruder.

After an escape attempt failed, police say Joseph Malone, 24, allegedly lunged at the officer who shot him once in the shoulder.

Malone, the stepson of the homeowner, was taken to Frankford-Torresdale Hospital where he was treated and released into police custody.

Police say Malone was inside the house illegally and faces charges.

The officer was not injured.

Columbus, Ohio

From June 30, 2006 channel 4 in Columbus:

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Police said a store clerk shot and killed a man who tried to rob him early Friday.

The shooting occurred at about 4:30 a.m. at the Express Market Drive-Thru, located at 900 East Fifth Ave., NBC 4’s Ana Jackson reported.

More detail from the June 30, 2006 Columbus Dispatch:

An 18-year-old carryout employee fatally shot one of two intruders who broke into the store on E. 5th Avenue early today, police said.

Eric M. Ford, 28, was pronounced dead inside the Express Market, 900 E. 5th Ave., at 4:37 a.m. It appeared he was shot once in the upper body, homicide Det. Jay Fulton said.

Police identified the other suspected burglar as Lawrence A. Ford, 38. He was arrested about two blocks from the store after fleeing on foot and was charged with aggravated burglary and murder.

“Because the person in custody was participating in a felony in which someone was killed, he can be charged with murder,” Fulton said.

…

A release from police said the man fired in self defense, but Fulton said the Franklin County prosecutor’s office would review the case to determine whether to pursue charges against the employee.

He said the employee spent the night in the business, which closed at 1 a.m., to clean and restock shelves, and had a bed in the store’s office where he slept.

The burglars broke the lock off a security gate, then smashed the front door glass to enter the store.

Fulton said it appears the employee came out of the office and fired a handgun when he was confronted by a masked man with a crow bar behind the store’s counter.

San Antonio, Texas

From MySanAntonio.com of June 30, 2006

Teen freed after father shot

A 16-year-old boy who authorities said shot his father in defense of his mother has been released from custody because officials said it appears he was trying to protect her.

A judge authorized Roy Ponce’s release from the Juvenile Detention Center on June 23, pending further investigation of the case.

“So far all the evidence is pointing to the fact that this man (Roy’s father) was assaulting his wife and this boy stepped in to protect his mother,” said Jill Mata, Bexar County assistant district attorney and chief of the office’s juvenile section.

The boy was detained June 20 after officials said he shot his father once in the head with a .380-caliber handgun. Roy’s mother told officials her son was trying to save her life and that she had suffered a history of abuse at the hands of her husband.

The San Antonio Express-News generally does not identify juveniles accused of crimes, but his family previously authorized the release of his name.

Sheriff’s deputies may later file some type of assault charges against the teen’s father, Encarnacion Jacob Ponce, if he survives, according to First Assistant District Attorney Cliff Herberg. His wife has also been granted a protective order.

Encarnacion Ponce, 47, remains in serious condition at University Hospital.

Officials initially didn’t recommend detention for Roy because there was strong evidence the shooting was justified, Herberg said.

In 2003, a judge gave Encarnacion Ponce eight months of deferred probation based on a misdemeanor charge of assault with bodily injury on his wife.

The district attorney’s office is awaiting a final report from the Bexar County Sheriff’s Department to determine the outcome of the case, Herberg said.

Mountain View, Alaska

From the Anchorage Daily News of June 30, 2006

Teen killed in driveway confrontation

Two teenagers were shot and one of them died after they approached a man in his Mountain View driveway Wednesday night in what may have been an attempted robbery, city and police officials said Thursday.

James Ifopo, 17, died after a single bullet hit him in the chest, authorities and witnesses said. A 16-year-old boy was also shot after the three youths — all of them on bicycles, according to witnesses — rode up to the man.

The wounded teenager was treated at a local hospital and released, police said.

The name of the injured 16-year-old and the third juvenile were not released because of their ages, police said.

The name of the man who fired the gun on the juveniles was also not released. A witness said Thursday that police took the man away in handcuffs.

Police Sgt. Slawomir Markiewicz said the shooter was cooperating with police and was released from custody Thursday morning.

The Police Department and district attorney’s office were evaluating the circumstances late Thursday for possible charges, they said.

“We have to go through and take our time,” said District Attorney Bob Linton on Thursday afternoon. “I’ve (not) had a chance to know enough detail to make an intelligent decision on my own and in consultation with police. That’s what I need to do.”

Clarksburg, West Virginia

From Wheeling‘s WTRF.com of June 29, 2006

Robbery Victim Shoots at Suspect

The owner of a Clarksburg antique store tells 12 News how a man entered his store and robbed him. The owner says he chased the suspect outside, firing two shots.

A manhunt was launched for the man who tried to rob the West End Antique Store on the 900 block of Pike Street in Clarksburg.

The store’s owner, Roger Hardy, says he chased the suspect and fired two shots at him as he ran.

Everything started just around 2 o’clock Thursday afternoon. Hardy says a man with his head and face covered came inside and showed his gun. Three other customers were in the store at the time.

“He told me to get on the floor and give him the money and I thought it was a joke and it took me a couple of seconds,” Hardy says. “He kept repeating that, using vulgarity. Then he come behind the counter and hit me with the gun as I was getting down on the floor

Afterwards, he called 9-1-1 and then followed the suspect with a gun of his own, firing two shots at the getaway truck.

“I picked up my gun too, I don’t want to shoot nobody, but I walked up beside their truck and I couldn’t stop the truck. So, I just shot the window out of the truck then as they passed my store, I shot again.”

Police then fanned out across the the west end of Clarksburg. Eventually, the alleged getaway truck was located at the old Anchor Hoching plant. There they took a woman into custody. She’s belived to have been in the getaway truck.

Tucson, Arizona

From the Tucson Citizen of June 29, 2006

Homeowner fights off intruders with gun

Home invasion suspects this morning exchanged shots with a Southwest Side homeowner awakened by the sound of someone trying to break into his home, the Sheriff’s Department said.

The home owner was not wounded and it could not be determined if either of two suspects were hit, said Tony Portrey, a sheriff’s dispatch supervisor.

It could not be learned early this morning if the home invasion is thought related to six others committed during an eight hour period from Sunday to Monday morning in the metro area.

One man was killed at his home on South Beardslee Drive in those home invastions, three men were arrested and law officers said they still were searching for two other young men in the cases.

In today’s home invasion, on South Sparrow Avenue, near West Los Reales Road and South Camino de Oeste, the homeowner, whose name was not released this morning, was awakened about 3:20 a.m. by the sound of someone trying to break in through a wrought iron security door with a crow bar, Portrey quoted deputies as saying in an initial report.

The homeowner yelled, “freeze,” and got a pistol.

Looking out of his house he spotted two vehicles, a car and a pickup, on a dirt road near his property. One was described only as a white sedan, possibly a Nissan or Honda Accord, and a dark-colored Chevrolet pickup.

Both vehicles started to leave, then stopped and the homeowner heard gunshots coming from the vehicles, Portrey said.

The home owner fired three shots and the suspects, described only as two men ages 18 to 20.

Collinsville, Illinois

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of June 29, 2006

Suspect dies during attempted robbery

Officials are [sic] captured suspects of an attempted armed robbery this morning of an Alorton resident.

The shooting occurred about 1:15 a.m. in the 4900 block of Jeannie Place, Alorton. Monte Golliday, age 16, of Cahokia was killed. Golliday and two others may have been attempting to rob an Alorton resident.

During the robbery, the victim, Golliday and another robber wrestled over a gun. The gun discharged striking Golliday. Golliday was taken to Kenneth Hall hospital in East St. Louis, Illinois. He died in surgery. The two other suspects in the attempted robbery were arrested a short time later and remain in custody.

Salem, Massachusetts

From TheBostonChannel.com of June 29, 2006

Jury Acquits Iraq War Veteran Of Shooting Into Crowd

Two Injured In Shooting

A jury deliberated just two hours Thursday before finding an Iraq war veteran acted in self-defense when he fired a shotgun into a group of club-goers outside his Lawrence home, injuring two people.

The Salem Superior Court jury acquitted Marine Sgt. Daniel Cotnoir, a 34-year-old reservist named last year’s “Marine of the Year,” of two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in the shooting last August.

Cotnoir, a married father with two young daughters, had rejected an earlier plea deal. He could have faced up to 20 years in prison. He stood stoically and showed no emotions as the verdicts were read.

Prosecutor John Dawley had urged jurors not to “give him extra points because he was in Iraq.”

“He is basically a good guy,” Dawley said. “But this is not a case about making someone a bad guy. Good people do bad things. Good people occasionally have monumental lapses of judgment.”

Defense attorney Robert Lewin asked jurors to put themselves in Cotnoir’s shoes, noting a bottle was thrown through Cotnoir’s bedroom window at about 3 a.m. while his children slept upstairs.

“You really have to try to put yourself in his room that night,” Lewin said. “How do you think you’d feel?”

Lewin also pointed to a prior incident during which someone fired a gun at Cotnoir’s house.

“Consider not only what happened that morning, but also the history of violence in that parking lot,” he said.

Cotnoir, who served eight months in Iraq in 2004, helped create a mortician’s unit for the Marine Corps, for which he was credited in winning the Marine of the Year award. He and his wife, Mary Kate, accepted the award in Washington, D.C., one month before the shooting.

Cotnoir’s house, which is also his family’s funeral parlor, overlooks a parking lot that sits across from two nightclubs. After the clubs let out at 2 a.m. on Aug. 13, 2005, revelers cranked their music and were singing and dancing.

Cotnoir testified he felt “under attack” after a bottle was thrown through his window minutes after he called police to complain. He said he was in fear of his family’s safety when he grabbed a rifle and fired a shot into what he said was a clear area.

The shell struck a curb and shattered into fragments, striking Kevin Castillo, 21, and Lissette Cumba, 15, both of Lowell.

Chicago, Illinois

From the Chicago Tribune of June 29, 2006

Burglar slain with his own shotgun

A burglar was shot and killed with his own weapon on the Southwest Side after a homeowner confronted him Wednesday evening, police said.

The homeowner was returning to his home in the 1600 block of West 38th Place about 5 p.m. when he saw a man trying to break into his garage, Officer John Mirabelli said. Although the burglar was armed with a shotgun, the homeowner confronted him, Mirabelli said.

“A struggle ensued, and the shotgun discharged, striking the offender in the head,” Mirabelli said.

The burglar was pronounced dead at the scene. There are no plans to charge the homeowner, Mirabelli said, because he was “acting in fear for his life.”

No one else was hurt, Mirabelli said. Police declined to identify the 44-year-old burglar.

Hazelwood, Pennsylvania

From the Pittsburg Post-Gazette of June 29, 2006

Hazelwood man found not guilty in death

Gwen Dunn said her son Dyar stopped by her workplace hours after he fatally shot a man near the Original Hot Dog Shop in Oakland Oct. 20.

“I looked at my son’s face and I knew he was going to say something that was going to change the course of my life,” she said. They agreed he would turn himself in to the police, which he did later that day.

His non-jury homicide trial ended yesterday in a “not guilty” verdict, based on the determination that he shot Phenice Buckley, 24, of Hazelwood, in self defense.

Common Pleas Judge John A. Zottola did find the 22-year-old guilty of carrying an unlicensed firearm. Mr. Dunn, also of Hazelwood, remains free on $50,000 bond and will be removed from court monitoring.

The most incriminating evidence detectives had against him at trial was his taped confession, since no forensic evidence that tied him to the crime was presented.

But that confession and a very similar statement Mr. Dunn’s friend Juan Moyer made to police shortly after the shooting supported the claim of self-defense: Both men said that the victim shot Mr. Moyer in the elbow during a struggle over his gun and he then turned and aimed at Mr. Dunn, who pulled out a gun and shot Mr. Buckley once in the chest. Mr. Buckley died shortly afterward at UPMC Presbyterian.

The judge said the forensics evidence matched these statements. A University of Pittsburgh groundskeeper found Mr. Dunn’s gun in a flower bed where both men said it would be. The DNA on the other gun’s grip matched the victim’s and had Mr. Moyer’s blood on the barrel.

“In my 23 years, this was probably the best self defense case I’ve ever had,” said William H. Difenderfer. “His buddy’s shot, the guy turns on him with a weapon in his hand and [Mr. Dunn] shoots.”

Ms. Dunn said “her heart goes out to the victim’s family.

“Anytime you lose a child that’s something that cannot be mended or repaired. I’m happy my son is still here with me.

Macon, Georgia

From the June 28, 2006 Macon Telegraph:

Walter Gunnell told police he was in bed at his home on Greenwood Terrace on Monday about 11:35 a.m. when he heard a noise, a report said.

He discovered a man in his home and fired at him three times, the report said.

Two men fled the home, a witness told police, according to the report.

Lt. Carl Fletcher said it’s not clear if Gunnell hit one of the men, and police haven’t discovered anyone seeking treatment for a gunshot wound at a local hospital.

Oak Park, Michigan

From the June 26, 2006 Detroit News:

Shots were traded this morning when a man returning to his home in Oak Park surprised an intruder in his home.

According to police, the incident occurred at about 4 a.m. in a home on Moritz and Northfield streets. The unidentified home owner — who was wounded in the shoulder, but is expected to recover — drove himself to the police station after the shootout. The intruder escaped. Tracking dogs were brought in to try and locate the suspect, but at this time he remains at large.

Beech Island, South Carolina

From Columbia’s WLTX.com of June 27, 2006

Caught on Tape: Store Owner Shoots at Robbers

Mary Todd is the first to tell you – she takes safety into her own hands.

“I don’t keep a gun on me, but there’s one always with hand’s reach,” she says, nodding towards a silver pistol.

Just a week and a half ago, the owner of Todd’s Food Store in Beech Island was forced to put it to use. On the afternoon of June 16th, three masked gunmen walked into the store, while a fourth waited in the car.

“They started grabbing customers, putting them on the ground, sticking guns to their heads and so forth,” says Investigator Chuck Cain with the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigator Cain says the crooks would have succeeded if it weren’t for Mary. As one of the men tried to kick in her office door, she fought back.

“I shot my gun through my little office window,” she says.

Adds Cain, “Right then the boys were like, ‘We’re getting shot at, we’re outta here.’”

In the end, the only thing the men got was out without getting shot. Now, investigators hope one of them slips up and talks about it.

“There were four suspects involved in this,” says Investigator Cain. “There is absolutely no way these four are gonna keep their mouths shut.”

Cain believes the four have ties to Aiken and Augusta.

Saginaw, Michigan

From Flint’s ABC12.com of June 27, 2006

Woman kills man in self defense

Couple’s fight ends in violence

A couple’s fight turned deadly in the city of Saginaw overnight. It happened on the 2300 Block of Hanchett on Saginaw’s west side around 1 a.m.

This is not the first time police have visited the home. This is the city’s 13th murder of 2006. But this one is not like any of the previous 12.

One reason is that the prosecutor will not file charges against the woman who pulled the trigger. That woman turned herself into police after she admitted to shooting 27-year-old Damion West once in the chest, killing him.

Prosecutor Mike Thomas says the woman acted in self defense and a source close to the investigation says West had a history of assaulting the woman.

That fact also weighed into the prosecutor’s decision. The victim in this case was actually wanted by Saginaw police as well.

He was facing three counts of attempted murder in connection with a shooting on Porter Street in Saginaw just two weeks ago.

West also had numerous closed cases in the Saginaw County court system dating all the way back to 1996.

San Francisco, California

From SFGate.com of June 28, 2006

3 suspects shot in robbery attempt

Police are looking for a man who turned the tables on three would-be robbers and shot them early Tuesday in the Tenderloin.

Police say the three first tried to rob a man at 3:30 a.m. at Turk and Leavenworth streets, but he was able to escape. The man then watched as the suspects confronted a couple and tried to grab a backpack from them, police said.

The man with the backpack pulled a gun and shot the three, police said. One man was wounded in the leg and was quickly arrested, and a second man wounded in the arm and buttocks was found around the corner.

The third man, wounded in the buttocks and groin, went to the Tenderloin Task Force police station for help.

“You’ve got to go somewhere,” Inspector John Peterson said. “Where he was shot, he needed the help.”

The three men each were charged with two counts of attempted robbery. Their names were not immediately released.

“It’s rare to have a victim be armed and use the weapon successfully on all three perpetrators,” Peterson said. “We would like to talk to that victim to hear the rest of the story.”