Posted on 04/24/2007 6:32:15 AM PDT by Fudd
Damon Wells is the man gun supporters were imagining when they fought for the right to carry concealed weapons.
He had a permit to carry his gun, and he had the gun on him when a pair of teenage thieves approached him Saturday night on his front porch in Cleveland.
When one of the youths pulled a gun, Wells drew his and shot one of the boys several times in the chest, police said. Arthur Buford, 15, died after stumbling away and collapsing on a sidewalk near East 134th Street and Kinsman Road.
City prosecutors decided Monday that Wells, 25, was justified and would not be charged for what appears to be the first time a concealed-carry permit holder has shot and killed an attacker.
Nonetheless, the shooting reignited the debate that flared three years ago when Ohio's concealed-carry law took effect.
Gun supporters said the weapon saved Wells' life. Opponents said it took Buford's - that the 15-year-old might be alive if a citizen had not been armed.
An angry throng of about 30 youths gathered Monday and set up a memorial at the intersection where Buford, a freshman at John F. Kennedy High School, died.
His cousin, Tameka Foster, 21, questioned why police did not punish Buford's shooter.
"They let that man run out freely," Foster said. "My cousin is dead."
Buford's accomplice disappeared after the shooting and had not been caught as of Monday night. Police found a .38-caliber handgun in the mail chute of a nearby house. They believe it belonged to Buford or the other suspect, Lt. Thomas Stacho said.
Police took a .40-caliber Smith and Wesson firearm from Wells as evidence, the police report shows.
Both sides of the gun debate said it was sad that a teenager died.
"It's tragic," said Jim Irvine, chairman of the Buckeye Firearms Association. "Anytime somebody dies, it's tragic, but it's hard to have any sympathy when he chose to have a gun and go threaten somebody's life." Irvine said it was "great that a potential victim is able to continue his life instead of having a criminal take it."
Toby Hoover, of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, said she had not heard of any other fatal shooting involving a concealed-carry permit holder.
"This is one of the few where they actually used it to stop a crime," Hoover said.
But, she said, "there's still a dead kid here."
A man who answered a phone number for Wells refused to comment and hung up. No one answered the door at Wells' home.
Plain Dealer reporters Jesse Tinsley and Brie Zeltner and researcher Cheryl Diamond contributed to this story.
>His cousin, Tameka Foster, 21, questioned why police did not punish Buford's shooter. "They let that man run out freely," Foster said. "My cousin is dead."<
Wells is too white for Tameka Foster! A 25 year old black man with a permit to carry shows that he hasn't been involved in a life of drugs and crime. He more than likely has been continiously gainfully employed. By golly, he probably graduated high school and may just have some college under his belt too.
What an idiot headline. There’s no reason whatsoever that this should reignite any debate.
HE'D HAVE NO STREET CRED! HE WOULDN'T HAVE HIS CRONK ON! HE WOULD DIZZLE FO SHIZZLE! TAMEKA WOULDN'T DROP HER 40 TO CHASE THAT!
Please refer to your Ebonicks Dickshunary.
Fo shizzle my badizzle.
I’ll bet there’s now a couple people who think twice before robbing a Cleveland man on his porch.
And one that won’t have to.
Here is a link for what happen after the gunfight
http://www.reactuate.com/2007/02/20/what-happens-after-the-gun-fight/
Lest you think the cops will pin a medal on you after you “bust a cap” on a bad guy.
Shoot someone and count on:
Going to jail
Being booked
Going to a bond hearing
Having to pay for your own lawyer
Having a Grand Jury hear the case (unless lucky enough to have DA dismiss charges)
Go to trial.
Maybe even go to jail for years.
And worry that relatives of the POS you dropped will be suing you for ‘wrongful death’ in civil court.
But, hey, at least you will be alive to enjoy all the new people you will meet after your close encounter of the gun kind.
Despite all this, I still carry as I refuse to be a vitim!
I won’t be bossed around by a woman.
Probably a dropout, like so many in Cleveland.
Not in Texas.
When one of the youths pulled a gun, Wells drew his and shot one of the boys several times in the chest, police said. Arthur Buford, 15, died after stumbling away and collapsing on a sidewalk near East 134th Street and Kinsman Road. "
Bah. Hah. HAH.
I think that we have stumbled onto the solution to urban schoolroom overcrowding.
Back down cowboy we are on the same side with this...
My post wasn’t any attack or even a debate with you; it was just that I was using a quote in your post, and I hit “reply.” Sorry for the misunderstanding. And I’m a cowgirl, not a cowboy. ;-)
That and the fact that Cleveland schools are so awful, 2/3rds of the kids go to charter schools.
The MSM is free to use this as an excuse to “reignite the gun debate” all it wants. But the law is the law. His actions were legal. The end.
The most important thing is that he might be alive had he not been an idiot and pulled a gun on a homeowner sitting on his own porch.
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