Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Texas homeowner stabs accused intruder with spear
KXAN News ^ | September 21, 2014 | KXAN News

Posted on 09/22/2014 5:29:45 PM PDT by stickandrudder

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KFDX) — We’ve heard about homeowners in Texas using guns to defend their property from intruders, but we don’t typically hear about people using medieval castle-like weapons to defend their home.

That was the case in Wichita Falls this week, where police arrested an accused crook after a homeowner stabbed him with a spear. According to KFDX-TV, it all started late Tuesday night when Wichita Falls police tried to pull over Thomas McGowan because the car he was driving had been reported stolen. McGowan took off and led police on a chase.

Several minutes later, authorities received a call from Jimmy Morgan Jr. saying someone had broken into his home and he had stabbed the intruder with a spear. Police believe the intruder was Thomas McGowan.

“I don’t have a firearm, so I have a short spear, very quick, very agile and very deadly,” Morgan told the NBC affiliate.

Morgan told officers he felt threatened when the intruder entered his home, so he grabbed the spear near his bed and stabbed McGowan once.

“So I hit him, and so he started retreating and I started advancing,” Morgan recalled. “And I was stalking him here…you never cross your legs. And I cornered him right here.”

“The door was locked and shut,” the homeowner said. “He was panicked at this point. He said ‘I can’t get out, I can’t get out.'”

“I do a hobby. It’s called the SCA,” Morgan explained. “It’s medieval fighting, and we do use spears and swords and things of that nature.”

Officers were able to locate Thomas McGowan nearby a short time later. He was treated at a local hospital before being booked into the Wichita County Jail. The 25-year-old is charged with evading arrest with a vehicle, criminal trespass of a habitation and driving while intoxicated.

“I am a Christian man and I don’t want to take life,” Morgan said. “However, I want to make sure that he understands that his life was mine to take and I let him have it.”

Through their investigation, Wichita Falls police learned the car driven by McGowan was actually his. He had previously reported the car stolen but did not alert the department once it was recovered.


TOPICS: Humor; Local News; Society; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: banglist; spear; texas
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-73 next last
To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

I recall that a Japanese samurai (Musashi?) got tired of killing people in his later years and used a wooden boat oar instead of his sword against one challenger. It turned out to be an effective weapon.


41 posted on 09/22/2014 6:29:37 PM PDT by yarddog (G)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: stickandrudder

This intruder was certainly having a bad day.

He called the police thinking his car had been stolen, but forgot to call them to tell them it had been recovered. Then, when chased by the police who thought he was a car thief in his own car, he foolishly tried to get away, which in Texas is an automatic felony.

Then he crashes his car, and trying to get away breaks into a home where he gets poked and driven out. Then he gets caught by the police.

Yep, a bad day all right.


42 posted on 09/22/2014 6:33:16 PM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy ("Don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative." -Obama, 09-24-11)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: F15Eagle

the picture in post #2 is probably not his PHD acceptance photo...


43 posted on 09/22/2014 6:38:16 PM PDT by terycarl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Bobalu

One of the greatest films ever. Heart of Darkness was better, though.


44 posted on 09/22/2014 6:38:39 PM PDT by WorkingClassFilth
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Cen-Tejas

Everyone needs one. I mean...you never know when you’ll need your spear. :)


45 posted on 09/22/2014 6:44:25 PM PDT by luvie (All my heroes wear camos! Thank you David, Michael, Chris Txradioguy, JJ, CMS, & ALL Vets, too!l)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

Where there’s a will, there’s a way! Even with weapons!


46 posted on 09/22/2014 6:49:32 PM PDT by luvie (All my heroes wear camos! Thank you David, Michael, Chris Txradioguy, JJ, CMS, & ALL Vets, too!l)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: skinkinthegrass

You just never know what you might have to ping, in Texas, next ;-)


47 posted on 09/22/2014 6:52:50 PM PDT by Jane Long ("And when thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: LUV W

Lol....what’s next? Hold mah beer, while I git mah spear?


48 posted on 09/22/2014 6:54:42 PM PDT by Jane Long ("And when thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: stickandrudder

Was the spear he used the shortened stabbing “assegai” devised by Shaka Zulu?

IIRC, Shaka decided that a spear hurled is a spear lost, so he broke the shafts of the traditional Zulu spear & told his men to never let the short `handle’ out of their grip.

The final charge in the 1964 “Zulu” shows this tactic.


49 posted on 09/22/2014 6:55:22 PM PDT by elcid1970 ("In the modern world, Muslims are living fossils.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: stickandrudder

The spear was one of the better non-launched weapons of ancient times. Of course, the efficiency of a chosen weapon also depends on the skill level of the practitioner and other conditions. In the hands of a skilled enough fighter, any chosen weapon will do well. Not many are very skilled. Daily practice in forms and with training equipment are required. A good pre-training practice would be to stand on the ground next to a house and begin jumping into the air, until you can jump onto the roof from the ground. ;-)


50 posted on 09/22/2014 6:57:35 PM PDT by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of corruption smelled around the planet.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: stickandrudder

Spear me the details.


51 posted on 09/22/2014 7:02:30 PM PDT by Redcitizen (Hmph. Adventure. Heh. Excitement. Heh. A Jedi craves not these things.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jane Long

Sounds about right! LOL!


52 posted on 09/22/2014 7:03:16 PM PDT by luvie (All my heroes wear camos! Thank you David, Michael, Chris Txradioguy, JJ, CMS, & ALL Vets, too!l)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: LUV W

.....hey, they’ve been relevant for thousands of years!

......I personally prefer my AR15 and it is ALWAYS within inches of my hands at night! I keep it with the stock collapsed so that it is short as possible and easier to handle.


53 posted on 09/22/2014 7:05:45 PM PDT by Cen-Tejas (it's the debt bomb stupid!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: Cen-Tejas

Smart!

A spear is hard to holster, too. :)


54 posted on 09/22/2014 7:08:14 PM PDT by luvie (All my heroes wear camos! Thank you David, Michael, Chris Txradioguy, JJ, CMS, & ALL Vets, too!l)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: stickandrudder
a short spear, very quick, very agile and very deadly,”

An Assegai?


55 posted on 09/22/2014 7:11:51 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LUV W

I prefer to use Speer Gold Dots.


56 posted on 09/22/2014 7:16:46 PM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: skinkinthegrass

You’re thinking of an Assegai

Zulu war chant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx7KzuXz4AM

Volley Fire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2dE74RiFqA

and of course,

Men of Harlech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NuTaQsMNaE


57 posted on 09/22/2014 7:27:36 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Sherman Logan

> I’d prefer a wazikashi or kukri.

About a year and a half ago I remember reading about a coed whose house was being broken into. She stood by the door with a kukri and when the door opened and a hand holding a handgun poked through, she took the guy’s hand off with one single blow.


58 posted on 09/22/2014 7:32:07 PM PDT by BuffaloJack (Bomb ISIS; bomb them again; bomb them again; kill all survivors; take no prisoners.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: LUV W

Well, this is something you wouldn’t see very often...


59 posted on 09/22/2014 8:33:56 PM PDT by stevie_d_64 (I will settle for a "perfectly good, gently used" kidney...Apply within...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: stickandrudder

So the home owner was a trained user of medieval edged weapons???

Somebody’s gonna get sued...I can already see it coming...

BTW, who actually sleeps with a spear within reach of their bed at night, and NOT have a firearm for use for similar purposes???

Lets see...Spear...gun...spear...gun...

Ok, spear...


60 posted on 09/22/2014 8:38:32 PM PDT by stevie_d_64 (I will settle for a "perfectly good, gently used" kidney...Apply within...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-73 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson