Police arrest N. Hero burglary suspect (ARMED VT CITIZEN FOILS DIM-WITTED BURGLAR)

Burlington Free Press ^ | November 26, 2008 | Adam Silverman

[Conservative Vermont Vet]

Police traced the suspect in a Monday burglary at a North Hero house because he abandoned his car at the scene while under fire from the homeowner, who said he could have killed the intruder but wanted only to force the man to surrender.

Authorities Tuesday arrested Eric Edson, 37, of Burlington after using Department of Motor Vehicles information to present homeowner Jim Melanson with a photo lineup, according to Vermont State Police in St. Albans.

Melanson, meanwhile, recounted his confrontation with the burglar -- a heart-racing encounter the 51-year-old self-employed electrician said lasted three to five minutes, but felt like far longer.

"If I had actually wanted to kill him, I could have," Melanson said Tuesday. "The only reason I didn't is because he didn't show a weapon."

[Conservative Vermont Vet]

Cannot link to this Gannett-owned, far left rag, so here is the link: LINK

Vermont may have its drawbacks (INCLUDING OF LATE HAVING BEEN NAMED THE “MOST LIBERAL STATE IN THE UNION”) however, being one of only 2 states which has no restrictions (or a need for a license to carry concealed) on its citizens being armed, I guess I can say this is one of the few good things about living here.

Of course, there several leftists moonbats who would like to see this “right” abolished and with the upcoming coronation of the Marxist DEAR LEADER with his anti 2nd Amendment bent, who knows how long we will enjoy this freedom?

I especially like Melanson’s retort: “"If I had actually wanted to kill him, I could have,"

BTW, though the article fails to address Edson’s record, he has about 30 previous felony convictions

Melanson came home -- he had been helping a friend dress a deer and was preparing to go out on his own hunt -- and noticed a strange car in his driveway at about 1:50 p.m. Monday. At first he thought the vehicle belonged to a town official such as a lister, but nobody was in sight. Melanson grew suspicious.

"I said, 'Nah, something's wrong,'" he recalled. "I parked right behind his bumper, so whoever it was couldn't leave without me knowing who it was."

Melanson kept a 9 mm handgun in his truck, and he pulled it out, loaded the pistol and went inside his house. Not two steps in the door, he saw Edson peek out from the office, Melanson said. With one hand the homeowner raised his gun and ordered the burglar to lie on the ground; with the other he called 911.

"I was just trying to keep him in the house," Melanson said.

The men stood 10 feet apart in a hallway. Edson seemed ready to comply perhaps three times but never brought himself to surrender, Melanson said.

"At one point he was saying, 'Hell with it. Shoot me. Just shoot me,'" the electrician said. "I thought, 'Buddy, you don't know how close you are.'"

Edson retreated into an interior bathroom from which there was no escape, Melanson said. He warned the burglar that walls offered no protection from bullets, and he needed to show empty hands right then or prepare to be killed, the homeowner said. Edson complied -- but then dashed through the master bedroom and into another bathroom, where he punched out a window screen.

That's when Melanson fired.

"He was a threat to me, but he did not show the threat, and that's the only reason he's still walking and talking," the electrician said. He aimed to miss, hopeful the gunfire would prompt the intruder to give up, he said.

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