Posted on 12/14/2006 5:06:34 AM PST by MSM Hater
Colin Jenkins’ girlfriend was already in bed Tuesday night, and he was just about to join her when the doorbell started to ring incessantly. When Jenkins opened the door, a man forced his way inside the rural Springfield home. Within minutes, one robbery suspect was dead and another critically wounded.
Jenkins’ girlfriend had shot them both.
Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly called the late-night home invasion "an apparent horrible attack on innocent victims." He said that although the case will be presented to a grand jury, he expects no charges against the shooter, 19-year-old Megan Stapleton.
"There is no reason to believe this was anything but random, and this young couple was defending themselves," Kelly said. He said the couple has lived in the house since October. Stapleton is a waitress at two restaurants, and Jenkins, also 19, works in construction.
Killed was 29-year-old Jonathan L. Carson, a former basketball star at Springfield South High School who played the 1997-98 season with the University of Cincinnati Bearcats, averaging 3.1 points in 17 games.
Carson had run-ins with the law in recent years, Kelly said, and had a previous felony conviction for receiving stolen property. Wounded was Dow R. Huffman, a 23-year-old from West Liberty in Logan County. He was wanted for failing to appear in court on a previous charge. He was listed last night in critical condition at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton.
The drama began just after 10 p.m. when a neighbor spotted a suspicious car. There are only five houses on Darnell Drive, part of an upscale neighborhood north of the Upper Valley Mall in western Clark County. Georgianna Sarven and her husband have lived in one of them for 28 years.
Their neighbor went to their house and said she was afraid to go home because a strange car was parked on the street with its lights off and a man inside.
The Sarvens accompanied her to her home and were inside checking her house for trouble when they heard commotion across the road.
"Then, all hell broke loose," Mrs. Sarven said. "We saw the boy that lives there outside waving his arms, flagging down police, and someone else said there was a dead body on the porch."
Kelly recounts the night’s events like this:
Jenkins opened his door about 10:30 p.m., and Huffman, armed with two guns, muscled his way in. The two fought, and Jenkins yelled to his girlfriend for help.
She left her bedroom, and Huffman stalked her down the hallway toward a back room. When she emerged, she had a 9 mm handgun and Huffman was right in front of her. She fired multiple times, and he went down.
She then ran to the living room and found a masked Carson fighting with Jenkins on the floor. She fired several times, apparently grazing her boyfriend in the back and hitting Carson once in the back.
Carson got up, stumbled onto the front porch and fell dead. A handgun was found near his body. Jenkins was treated for his injuries at a local hospital, Kelly said. Stapleton was shaken but unharmed.
Kelly said the car that neighbors saw, a large green vehicle with a damaged door, likely was a getaway vehicle. He said deputies are searching for the driver.
hzachariah@dispatch.com
Alright!! That's my kind of girl, one who knows her way around a gun!
Maybe Midnight Basketball isn't the answer...
A UC basketball player acting in a criminal enterprise? SHOCKING!!!!
Went to a University and so stupid he decides to rob two 19 year old kids who are living together,and probably have little personal wealth other than the clothes on their backs.
And a 9mm :-)
What I don't get:
1) Area is described as affluent
2) Do the kids own the house? Is it a relatives?
3) Are they married or just shackin'up in this expensive
house (OK, not a big deal to many anymore).
4) Who owns the pistol she used? In many places a 19 year
can't. This isn't to say she wasn't within the law
using the weapon.
5) Taken as a whole there is something missing from this
story.
Sorry if I'm a dumb-a$$. Just wondering.
I do believe I can give my >18 yo child a handgun.
You forget the first rule of a gunfight. Have a gun!!!
Woah. No further comment.
He was trying to earn extra credits before enrolling at Ohio State.
I don't think you are required to be 21 to OWN a pistol. If I wanted to give one to my 19 year old child, it's legal.
I knew a fella who took three-four rounds of a 45 to the torso and survived. The other fella in that robbery took five rounds of a 9 mm (iirc, maybe a 38) and survived. Point blank range, firing across the store counter.
I doubt the thugs would have moved on to the next house. My advice would be that if someone's pounding on your door at 10:30 at night it's probably not a friendly visit, and you might want to have gun in hand.
"I wish I knew what the driver in the getaway car thought when he heard shots ring out"
Probably really scared the crap out of him when he saw one of his buddies drop DEAD on the front porch.
Hate to have to clean that car out!
"...probably have little personal wealth other than the clothes on their backs."
And a 9mm semi-automatic handgun!
I'm waiting for the Brady Campaign to call that young lady and offer their congratulations.
After all, they don't have any qualms about bathing in the blood of murder victims.
I was simply implying that they either bought the piece from a private party, or it was given to one of them. 18 is the legal possession age, but you have to be 21 to purchase from a licensed dealer.
These kind of laws are silly, IMHO, as the same 19 year-olds can legally purchase a .300 Weatherby Magnum rifle if they so desire.
"I was simply implying that they either bought the piece from a private party, or it was given to one of them. 18 is the legal possession age, but you have to be 21 to purchase from a licensed dealer."
The minimum age to own a handgun is determined by state law. Many states have no minimum.
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