Posted on 10/30/2007 7:35:36 AM PDT by SmithL
A man who said he was leery of crime in his Olive Branch neighborhood chased down and shot a carjacking suspect Monday after discovering a man pointing a shotgun at his 71-year-old mother's head.
The suspect, David Andre Bates, 18, of 6946 Bordeaux in Memphis, was charged with armed carjacking. Bond was set at $150,000.
And authorities were weighing the possibility of charges against Keith Gray, who shot Bates in the leg after a dramatic chase along State Line Road.
Bates was taken to the Regional Medical Center at Memphis. The carjacking victim, Bobbie Gray, was shaken but not injured.
"I was scared," Keith Gray said as he recalled how events unfolded.
Gray said he was watching television about 1:30 p.m. when he heard his mother scream.
Figuring she'd fallen while unloading groceries from her trip to the store, he hurried to the garage, where he saw the man with the shotgun and his mother at the man's whim.
He wanted to approach his mother and rescue her, but Gray was unarmed at the time and therefore restrained himself. He was afraid the assailant would shoot his mother.
Then the man jumped in his mother's car, a silver Marquis.
"Once she got away from him, I got angry," said Gray, who is in his 40s.
Gray jumped into his black Maxima, where his 40-caliber Glock was located, and chased after the suspect fleeing the home in Plantation Lakes, just south of the Tennessee state line.
Gray, who said he has a gun permit, caught up with the Marquis on the Tennessee side of State Line Road near Millers Glen Way. He fired into his mother's car after the driver pointed the shotgun at him.
"Lucky I shot 150 practice rounds this weekend," Gray said hours after the carjacking at his and his mother's home in the 9100 block of Hickory Drive. "I hit the car all three times."
One shot shattered the driver's side door glass. With the car still moving, the suspect hurried out the passenger side door. Gray whipped his car into park and ordered the man to drop to the pavement.
"My intent was to have him so the police could get him," Gray said.
The man dropped to the pavement, according to police, but he didn't stay down. That's when Gray shot him in the leg.
"He got up and started coming toward me," Gray said.
One of the bullets fired during the chase apparently also hit the suspect, Olive Branch police Maj. Don Gammage said. It got him in the thigh.
No police were involved in the chase, but they quickly arrived and took control of the suspect.
Investigators were sympathetic to Gray's emotional state, caused by seeing a gun at his mother's head, but weren't eliminating the possibility that he could be charged with a crime for taking the law into his own hands.
"Anyone could understand the fear of his mom having a shotgun put to her head," said Steve Schular, spokesman for the Shelby County Sheriff's Department, which was investigating the shooting aspect of the event.
One thing to consider regarding charges against Gray, Schular said, was that the suspect was unarmed at the time of the shooting. He had left the shotgun in the car.
Schular said investigators also must consider if it is significant that Gray has a Mississippi gun permit but the shooting was in Tennessee.
Gray, whose family has lived in Plantation Lakes for seven years, said he has been the victim of crime.
"A while back," he said, his truck was broken into and CDs taken. And several months ago, the door to a neighbor's home was kicked in, and Gray met Gammage, who was investigating the incident.
Gray said he was intent on not letting the carjacking suspect get away, so he went after him.
Gray's brother, Lance Gray, alluded to the fact people can't feel completely safe, even in a city like Olive Branch, where the low crime rate is a badge of pride.
"It's everywhere," Lance Gray said. "I work for Memphis fire. It's across state lines and everywhere. You can't run from it."
Justifiable.
“Gray jumped into his black Maxima, where his 40-caliber Glock was located,”
Fellow “cop gun” owner. Cool.
I’d be proud to have him as my son! Well, done!
“Lucky I shot 150 practice rounds this weekend,”
Thats not luck, thats taking your CCW permit seriously.
I also fired 150 rounds this past weekend.
“Fellow “cop gun” owner. Cool.”
Eh?
Does my NAA .22 qualify as a “cop gun”?
;-)
Damn right. What are we supposed to do? Suppose this guy got away and did another carjacking and this time perhaps the owner of the car would have become a victim???? If they charge this man for going after someone who threatened his 71 year old mother then they are just plain wrong and I will be outraged. The criminals are running the justice system...yes????
That’s what my wife jokingly calls my Glock, “cop gun”. Hers is “007”. Guess what kind it is. ;)
In the leg?? Sorry, but that's not smart. Dead perps have considerably more difficulty suing. Or carjacking again.
Making a lot of assumptions there. I don’t see where his age or his occupation if any is mentioned. This could have been his day off or maybe he worked nights or who knows what. You don’t know and neither do I. And by the way, some women are independent — they would rather do the shopping and carrying the groceries themselves. My brother’s mother-in-law is like that. She’s 90 and wants to do everything for herself. Nothing wrong with that.
Great. Ping.
The article said he has his permit for Mississippi, but it took place in Tennessee.
PPK?
A shooting like this might cost him his permit. He will almost certainly lose the Glock. Somebody tell me if I’m wrong.
The mistake was shooting him in the leg, instead of a vital organ.
Step 1: Kieth Grey needs to shut the Hell up, right now.
His statements are precluding many possible defenses, should this matter come to trial. He needs a lawyer who will be willing to sit on his chest and shove a forearm in his mouth to keep him from talking, if that’s what it takes.
For instance, without all these extraneous statements, Grey would be able to argue that he thought the gunman might return and harm his 71-year-old mother, and that he was not sure the gunman holding a shotgun to her head was part of a continuing argument. This would give the jury all the cover they need to pat him on the head and dismiss the case with an “Attaboy”. But now he has gone and blabbed that he knew the gunman was a carjacker who was just trying to get away and he shot him (while unarmed) because he was angry. All of these statements are going to greatly complicate his defense.
Rule #1: When the police tell you that you have the right to remain silent and talk to a lawyer, take them up on their offer.
Yeah, we called it a "throw down."
j/k
Agree. Center of mass twice, once in the head, if needed.
Probably a Beretta, these days.
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