72yr Old Businessman Shoots 4 Robbers

This is another good one. A 72 year old businessman sees one of his employees being pistol whipped by the 4 armed robbers that were in his store. He opens fire with a 12 gauge pistol grip shotgun and hits all 4 of the bad guys. Sadly, it looks like two of them might survive.

Here's a frustrating pair of quotes from the story:

Augusto told cops he bought his shotgun after a robbery nearly 30 years ago. Browne said it was unclear Thursday night if Augusto has a license for the weapon.

A police source said that if Augusto is hit with a charge, it will be a minor one. "It doesn't look too bad for him," the source said.

The guy stops an armed robbery, saves an employee from a life threatening beating and reduces the criminal population by two, yet they have to end the story with thoughts of him possibly facing some sort of criminal charge. This guy should get a marksmanship award from the NRA and a good citizenship medal from the mayor. If they decide to charge him with something, I hope the neighborhood drums the district attorney out of office.

(As always, clicking on the title link will take you to the full story.)

UPDATE:
Here's a link to the NY Times version of the story with a few more details.

Woman Beats Armed Home Invaders with Can of Peas

The title link is to a story about a Toledo woman who used some common sense survival instincts, ordinary household items and good preparation to triumph over home invaders. Per the article and the associated video interview, the woman heard a knock on her at 5:30AM. She thought it may have been her brother, so she opened the door and was attacked by two masked men, at least one which had a gun. One of the men pointed a gun at her and started pulling the trigger and for some reason the gun didn't fire. He then started beating her head and face with the gun. Fortunately for her, she had answered the door while holding her improvised home defense weapon, a long heavy sock with a can of peas at the bottom of it. She fought back and beat one of the attackers so badly that he was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Let's hope he doesn't pull through.

Let this story be a lesson to everyone. With a bit of thought, many common household objects can easily be transformed into effective and potentially deadly self defense tools. This woman said she stashed several of these sock and can flails around her house in case of emergency. When you use the sock to swing around a heavy object, the speed of the swing adds tremendous momentum and can deliver enough power to break bones. Even a large handful of change in a sock can be dangerous. For those afraid, unwilling or legally unable to keep a firearm for self defense, remember that you can still arm yourself in other ways. If someone starts pounding on your door at odd hours, having a weapon at hand when you answer the door could save your life.

Although I found it quite uplifting that this woman had the foresight and courage to fight back, there was one sad spot in the article. Here's a quote from a neighbor who witnessed the attack:

"Very scared. So scared that I thought I was going to die because I thought they were going to come to my place and kill me because I had my head out peaking [sic] out"

I find it disheartening that someone could witness this sort of brutal attack and do nothing more than "peek out". If people were quick to protect each other and fought back against crime more often there would be a lot less of it. Grab a chair, a wine bottle or a hammer and bash the attacker's head in while he is occupied with beating his victim. Stab them a dozen times with a kitchen knife. Come up behind them and kick them in the groin or knee as hard as you possibly can. Don't just "peek". Fear is never a valid excuse for not doing the right thing. I can somewhat understand not getting involved in a fair fight between two strangers when there is no obvious "bad guy" and "victim", but when you see two guys with ski masks bashing their way into your neighbor's home there is no doubt about who needs to be stopped. If a witness does nothing to help a victim they are partly responsible for whatever happens to the victim.

Student Uses Gun to Stop Robbery and Rapes

Another great self defense story. Click on the title link and see the full story, complete with a video clip of the news story. Here's an excerpt:

Bailey said he thought it was the end of his life and the lives of the 10 people inside his apartment for a birthday party after two masked men with guns burst in through a patio door.“They just came in and separated the men from the women and said, ‘Give me your wallets and cell phones,’”

If you read further and watch the video, you will learn that the student pulled out a gun, shot and killed one of the attackers and then kicked down the door to the room where the women were being held and opened fire on another attacker who was trying to rape his girlfriend.

Although one student was admittedly shot in the exchange of gunfire, they are expected to fully recover. Even with this mishap, this is a great outcome as it prevented one or more of the women from being raped or worse. It's great that this student had both a gun and the courage to use it in defense of others.

CA Band Girl Beats Off Two Muggers

I love stories with quotes like this one:

one got a punch in the nose and the other a kick to the groin. Rust says the girl then beat both of them with her band baton

It sounds like this young lady knew exactly what she was doing, and may have had some training. Going after vulnerable spots, delivering a few extra hits to make sure her attackers aren't able to pursue and then running to safety is exactly what is called for in this type of situation. It just goes to show that with the right mindset, the smaller/younger/"weaker"/out numbered person need not be a victim. I hope this young woman left a lasting impression on her attackers and inspires others to react to crime in the same manner.

Click on the title link for the full story.

Female Blackbelt Marathon Runner Foils Burglary

This from the sun-sentinel.com:

A would-be burglar met his match when he tried to elude Margo Foster, a marathon runner with a black belt in karate who also knows kickboxing and kung fu, police said.
...
Without thinking twice, she said in an interview, she bolted through the living and dining rooms and followed the startled man out to the backyard. Police said he had one of Foster's backpacks strapped on his shoulders, filled with her property. She wanted it back.
A seven-block-long chase had just begun.

...

As related by Foster, the intruder began to climb the 6-foot-high wooden fence in the yard, when she "grabbed him by the neck, ripped him off the fence.. threw him to the ground, and put my knee to his chest."

...

"Go ahead and run," the former yacht detailer said she yelled. "You're not going to get away from me. I've been running for 40 years."

This is great! If everyone fought back like this, crime would go down. Yes, it's dangerous and obviously some victims will end up hurt, but if most people were willing to fight back like this crime would be much less attractive to thieves. In the long run, we would have a better, safer and more mentally healthy society.

14yr Old Boy Beats Burglar With Bat

Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that I haven't posted in quite some time. This is because I got tired of following the mostly disappointing and frustrating news feeds in order to find the occasional good tidbit worth commenting on. Yesterday, however, a friend sent me a great story that I just had to share with you all.

From MSNBC.com:

“I only hit him twice,” Michael said almost apologetically of the incident that played out Tuesday morning in the Phoenix suburb.
He demonstrated for Vieira how he whacked the burglar, later identified as Thomas Garza, a 30-year-old career criminal who was on parole at the time, twice across the back and shoulders.
On the 911 tape of the incident, Garza can be heard yelling “Please! Please! Please!” after being hit.

…

When Garza left the building, Michael climbed out his window behind him, saw the police arriving, and showed them where to go to find the suspect.

Nice work, Michael! Too bad you didn’t get him in the head before the police got him.

Petite Beautician Foils Robbery

The title link is to a story in a which a 4' 9" female hair stylist thwarts a robbery attempt from a 6' tall masked man. Below are some quotes from the Telegraph.co.uk story:

the robber, carrying an imitation gun, burst in and demanded cash from the terrified owner Joanna Holmes.Miss Lowell, then 26, wrestled with him until concerned staff dragged her away

Think about this quote for a minute. A robber attacks and the only person with the guts to fight back is "dragged away" by "concerned staff". What was the "concerned staff" thinking?!? Why didn't they help Miss Lowell beat the hell out of the robber rather than start fighting the one woman with the guts to do the right thing? They should have immediately started hurling things at him, stabbed him with scissors and otherwise made this intruder flee for his life. If I was Miss Lowell, I would find a different job rather than continue to work with such pathetic and cowardly colleagues.

But as the raider ran out she took off her stiletto heels and chased him 300 yards down the street brandishing one of the shoes before he eventually got into a waiting car.She managed to note the registration number...

This woman really has guts! It's too bad that the police couldn't or wouldn't prosecute the case.

Miss Lowell said: "I looked in the mirror at his gun to see if it was real and I was convinced it wasn't. That's when I turned round and went for him.

A perfect example of how a basic knowledge of weapons can help out ordinary people. Being able to tell if a weapon is real, or being able to glance at a revolver and see if there are bullets in the cylinder can save your life and/or help you decide how/when/if to fight back.

"I think he was a bit shocked that the smallest person in the shop was having a go.

I bet the robber was shocked when she stood up for herself and didn't cower. I've long believed that robbers will often be stunned d by a person who tells them "no". Someone once tried to rob me at knife point and you should have seen the dumbfounded look on his face when I told him "no" and dropped into a fighting stance and put up my hands. He just stood there for a moment with his jaw hanging open and a stupid confused look on his face and then became scared and took a couple of hasty steps back from me. (He eventually went to prison because of this crime).

Most thieves don't expect serious resistance. They think their weapon will magically compel obedience and submission from their victims and they don't know what to do when their "victim" tells them to bugger off. That moment of shock might be all you need to disable them, disarm them or escape from them. I realize that in some cases resisting may get you hurt or killed, but I firmly believe that if most people resisted, there would be a lot less crime and the world would be a safer place.

Truck Thief, Beaten, Captured and Jailed

Crime doesn't pay when victims fight back:

As speeds reached 70 miles per hour, Lucas grabbed a trowel from a bucket of cement and started clubbing the truck thief.

"I think that scared him more than anything, so he stopped the truck at that point," Lucas said.

The frightened driver started running on foot with Lucas right on his heels.

"I ran over and I tackled him to the ground and made sure I had him subdued, while a couple other gentlemen helped me get some zip ties on him," he said.

Lucas and two witnesses zip-tied the suspect and held him until cops arrived.

17yr Old Captive Kills Intruder

CEDAR CITY - Police in southern Utah are calling a 17-year-old boy a hero after he fatally stabbed an armed intruder who broke into his family's home early Wednesday.

...

While the stepfather fought with the intruder, the boy was able to free himself. He then pulled a 6-inch hunting knife from beneath his bed, walked into his parents' bedroom and stabbed the intruder five times in the back, Gower said.

Good for him! In today's society, many people would think it strange for a person to keep a knife, firearm or other weapon under or near their bed. Here's an example of how such things can come in handy. Who knows what this armed intruder would have done to this family once he finished strapping them all down with duct tape. Disgruntled ex-employee stories often end badly once they decide to arm themselves and get revenge, so this could have turned out to be quite a tragedy.

I am especially pleased that the police have acknowledged and praised the young defender's efforts:

CEDAR CITY - Police in southern Utah are calling a 17-year-old boy a hero after he fatally stabbed an armed intruder who broke into his family's home early Wednesday.

Iron County Sheriff Mark Gower described the boy as a level-headed kid "who, in my opinion, saved his family's lives."

Woman's SS# Used By 81+ Illegal Aliens

This NFDailyNews.com story is yet another reason why we should crack down on illegal immigration and require employers to verify social security numbers before hiring employees. Here are some excerpts:

DUBLIN, Calif. (AP) - Audra Schmierer's Social Security number really gets around. It has been used by at least 81 people in 17 states, most of them probably illegal immigrants trying to get work.

...

"They knew what was happening but wouldn't do anything," said Schmierer, 33, a housewife in this affluent San Francisco suburb. "One name, one number, why can't they just match it up?"

...

Schmierer realized she had a problem in February 2005, when she got a statement from the IRS saying she owed $15,813 in back taxes _ even though she had not worked since her son was born in 2000.

...

What started as a hassle turned into a major headache earlier this year when she sought work through a temporary agency that learned her Social Security number had been used by a woman in Texas two years earlier. The agency could not hire Schmierer for more than a month while the situation was clarified.

Stolen or fabricated Social Security numbers are frequently used by illegal aliens in order to obtain employment. As you can see from this story, this often harms the people who were really issued those numbers. Since the purpose of a Social Security number is to track taxation, Social Security contributions and Social Security benefits, it is ridiculous that employers are not required to check the validity of these numbers before hiring new staff. Keep in mind that employers must contribute money into Social Security for each employee, issue tax statements to each employee and the IRS based on these numbers. Thus, if they have the wrong number, they effectively are providing bogus information to the Federal Government and in my opinion are either aiding and abetting a crime or at the very east are being very negligent.

The government either needs to stop forcing employers to contribute tax and Social Security money for their employees, or they need to create a fast and easy way to verify Social Security numbers and require employers to use it. Right now, employers are required to contribute money based on these numbers, regardless if the numbers actually mean anything. This is stupid.

86 Yr Old Lady Beats Off Mugger While Others Refuse to Help Her

The WCBSTV.com story in the title link contains both a textual account and a video interview of the 86 year woman who successfully fended off a mugger with her umbrella. Here an excerpt:

...Elisabeth, who'd been in tougher situations as a Jew eluding the Nazi's in Europe, made her move. With the purse strap tangled around her arm, she grabbed her large umbrella from the walker, snapped it open and "I beat him with it," she said with a smile.

Then, she added, "I wish I'd poked him in the eye" with the sharp end.

According to the story and video interview, this Jewish woman survived the Nazi holocaust, 5 strokes and a broken hip before this mugger beat her with a wooden sign post. Congratulations to her for refusing to give up and for her determination to defend herself and her property.

Here's where the story takes a turn for the worse:
During the video interview, the woman mentioned that passersby did not help her while she was being assaulted. Imagine an eldery woman with a walker being struck repeatedly with a wooden club by some thug who then tries to wrest away her bag. Visualize her yelling and hitting the attacker with her umbrella while she tries to hang on to her bag. Now imagine younger, stronger and more physically able people walking past this struggle without lifting a finger to help her! This is the impression I got from her description of the events during the video interview. If this is truly what happened, the passersby who did nothing to help her are worthless cowards. I sincerely hope that the next few times someone is mugged, beaten, raped or killed in New York it happens to those same cowardly bystanders rather than to decent human beings.

Pop Tart Thief Gets Pounded

Here are some quotes from azcentral.com:

First, the clerk at the convenience store ripped the man's shirt off as they struggled...

Then . . . he was hit by a pickup truck in the parking lot

...he got up and kept running - into the path of a minivan while he was crossing the street.

Usually I really hate crime, but if I was the convenience store clerk who got to see saw all of this, I almost think it would have been worth getting robbed. That must have been the funniest robbery at that location ever! Too bad they don't have it on video. Can you imagine being so stupid as to go through a struggle with a clerk, get hit by two vehicles and then get booked for robbery all over a couple of pop tarts? If the mini-van had been going a little faster this would have qualified for a Darwin Award.

Victims Fight Back in Murfreesboro

From wsmv.com:

Usually criminals worry about being caught by police but in Murfreesboro criminals need to watch out for their victims. In the last two months, five different victims took bold risks in stopping crime.

Click on the title link to read the full story. It's great to hear how good citizens refused to give their consent to be victimized. Here's a quote from a person who used a pair of scissors to prevent a robbery and detain the robber:

"If you roll over and take it, they will do it again," Davis defended his action.

Although taking extreme action to stop a crime may be dangerous, if more people did it, crime would drop dramatically. More criminals would be jailed, killed or disabled, and other people might think twice before deciding to prey on people that very could kill them. Good for you, people of Murfreesboro!

15 Yr Old Shoots Home Invader

From the MiamiHerald.com:

With a man breaking through the front door, a Hollywood 15-year-old loaded his father's gun, waited for the intruder to come in and shot him, police said.

...

Police said the teenager is unlikely to be charged in the case. But they said Jumper, who was shot several times, will be -- once he's discharged from Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood.

Good for him! I must confess I am surprised that a 15yr old living in Hollywood would have been trained in the effective use of firearms; maybe this part of Los Angeles hasn't fully succumbed to hopolophobia after all. Good news indeed.

UK Woman Pounds Burglar with Pans

Here's an excerpt from the Mirror.co.uk:

Laura, 23, beat Ibrahim El-Hamady so hard it broke. She grabbed another and landed more blows as she chased him out.

She dragged him under a CCTV camera, called police on her mobile and held him until they came.

Good for her! I hope one of the pans she used was a large, heavy cast iron skillet. I wonder how long it will be before the U.K. tries to ban frying pans given that someone has proven them to be useful self defense weapons.

Student Kills Attacking Gunman

Special thanks to AlanDP of the Blogonomican for pointing out this WTVM.com story to me:

CARROLLTON, Ga. Police say a University of West Georgia student killed an armed man who broke into his apartment near the school's campus.

Authorities say Vaughn -- of Carrollton -- struck two of the men with the gun then threatened the other before one of students grabbed a knife and stabbed him multiple times.

Police say the 22-year-old Vaughn was pronounced dead at the Tanner Medical Center-Carrollton from numerous knife wounds.

Nice work, students! Another case of victims refusing to give up living and tolerate being victims!

For those of you not familiar with the Blognomicon, it's a quality blog that tends to focus on firearms issues, with the occasional article about pipes and pipe smokers, current events, satire and more. It's well worth a visit and is one of my regular reads.

Armed Robber Flees After Getting Face Full of Hot Water

The reason I post so many of these self defense stories, and stories about kidnappers, robbers and rapists getting hurt is because I'm hoping to accomplish three things:

1. Change our societal perception about violence (in short, violence can be appropriate and even necessary when defending oneself or saving an innocent from harm; everyone has the right and the duty to defend themselves or civilization will decay)
   
   
2. Show people that anyone and everyone can defend themselves from an attacker as long as they keep their wits about them and use any and all means necessary to stop an attacker and save their lives. I've posted many stories of people from all demographics doing this successfully as proof of this concept (young children, elderly women, middle aged men and often people much smaller and weaker than their attackers).
   
   
3. Demonstrate that good people are not helpless prey, and get the word out that crime can be a very dangerous and painful occupation for criminals. If the media publicized successful defenses and stories about injured criminals as often as they gleeful report murders and robberies, crime would go down even faster. Criminals watch TV, and if every night they saw news stories of robbers and rapists getting severely injured, jailed or even killed, I believe many would be less motivated to be cowardly predators.

Here's an excerpt from a nbci5.com story of how convenience store clerks chased away a frequent armed robber by throwing a cup full of scalding hot water in his face:

One of the clerks threw scalding hot water at the armed man, who then dropped the goods and ran. The man was armed with a sharpened screwdriver, NBC 5 reported

...

Police said the robber has struck the store in Lake Highlands at least six times and fear that his next visit may be more violent.

Given that this guy has made a habit of robbing this store, it's time the store owner and employees legally arm themselves with something even more formidable than boiling water. Fortunately, this happened in gun-friendly Texas, and one can hope it would be legal for the clerk to have a shotgun secured under the counter and/or a .45 on his or her person If there is any justice, the next time this dirt bag comes to rob this store might be his last.

Click on the title link to the news story if you'd like to see video footage of the robber getting a face full of hot water.

Kidnapper Gets Pencil Through His Face from Intended 13 yr Old Victim

From ABCNews.com:

Midvale police are on the lookout for a man who allegedly tried to kidnap a 13 year old boy while he walked to school Tuesday morning.

...

Nichol also says the man followed him for several blocks, and then finally approached the boy from behind, getting him in a headlock. "My first reaction was to pick it [the pencil] up and stab him like this and it broke off somewhere in his face." Nichol says.

Congratulations Brendan Nichol! I hope you got him in the eye!

Good Samaritans Get $500 for Catching Robber

According to Parisnews.com:

A Paris man who used his bicycle to chase a suspect in a bank robbery and a Slabtown man who shot the suspect later that day were rewarded Friday with five crisp $100- bills.

...

Terry Christian, People’s Bank president, credited the two men with “preserving the bank’s money” — about $14,000.

...

“We probably would not have gotten as quick of a recovery of our money,” Christian said. “Because of him getting a license number and description of the vehicle, officers were able to get on the truck real quick.”

For those who didn't follow the title link to get the full story, this was about Paris, Texas and not Paris, France. I'd like to see more stories about people getting rewarded for foiling crime. Something as simple as jotting down the description and license number of a getaway vehicle will often go a long way towards catching a criminal.

14yr Old Brown Belt Knocks Out Her Abductor

According to 9news.com/kusa.com:

Brittney Richardson says she was grabbed by a man last Friday night on 93rd Avenue in Westminster, after walking home from the grocery store. But her attacker quickly learned that Brittney isn't your typical teenager. She has a brown belt in Karate, and she used the skills she's learned during two years of classes.

"I turned and I hit him," she says. "I just knocked this guy out."

Nice work, Brittney!