Posted on 11/28/2013 5:45:24 AM PST by Uncle Chip
after ringing his doorbell when he became lost and confused after wandering off in the middle of the night
A 72-year-old man with advanced Alzheimer's has been shot dead by a homeowner after he rang the bell at the stranger's house when he became lost and confused in the middle of the night.
Ronald Westbrook rang the doorbell of a home at 4am on Wednesday after wandering around in the dark for almost four hours in rural Walker County, Georgia. He had walked around three miles from his home by the time he approached the door.
The shooter was identified as Joe Hendrix, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, according to Sheriff Steve Wilson said.
Mr Westbrook rang the door bell and turned the door handle of the home in the new development where Hendrix had just moved in with his fiancée. The woman, who has not been identified, called 911 and was on the phone with a dispatcher when Hendrix confronted the elderly man in the yard with a 40-caliber handgun.
Mr Westbrook, an Air Force veteran, did not respond to the commands that Hendrix issued to him because Alzheimer's Disease has left the72-year-old practically mute.
Hendrix fired four shots with one bullet striking Mr Westbrook in the chest and killing him. The victim's body was removed from the scene at 10.30am on Wednesday.
It is unlikely that Hendrix will be charged with any crime, according to The Chattanoogan.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I never said he could or couldn’t hear; I said the shooter may have told him to stop and implied the victim did not stop.
If you are approaching me at 4 AM I’m not going to ask you your name. I’m going to tell you to stop and put your hands up. I’d also tell you the police have been called.
He rang his doorbell but was shot out in the yard.
He thus was not moving toward him but away from him.
As a civilian you don’t get to issue orders and then shoot someone because he didn’t obey you.
That gun does not come with a badge.
Heck even with a badge cops can’t even do that.
It is highly doubtful that a typical suburban newleywed would be looking for a life to take in cold blood for the fun and experience of it.
It is dark. You are rousted out of sleep and you imagine the worst, that your house is being broken into. The adrenaline has to be pounding your heart. If you can’t see well in the dark, then you don’t know that the man is old or if he has a weapon. If you can’t tell he doesn’t have a weapon, then a person is going to be on edge to shoot just our of raw fear of being shot first.
We honestly don’t know the circumstances. After the story is published, we know all the facts. We don’t know what the home-owner saw or how dark and shadowed the situation was. The story is not well written. The elderly man rings the bell and tries the door knob yet is shot in the back yard. What happened in between?
Hey, if you were there and saw all this you should really go file a statement with the police.
Meanwhile, I hear what the biased anti-gun media said and I tend to take the media’s “facts” with a huge grain of salt.
So, did he really ask the guy’s name? Seems pretty strange. I’d still tell him to “stop.”
I forgot to add, the shooter now has to live with this bad shoot for the rest of his life. For the next decades, he is going to question himself and think, what could I have done differently? Why did I overreact? What cues did I miss? Did I panic? Was I rash?
He is probably going to find a yes answer to a lot of those questions. Charged or not, he has to live the rest of his life knowing he ended the life of an innocent man. I would be surprised if it doesn’t take some toll on him. Every neighbor knows it.
He is in for a lot of bad years.
We honestly dont know the circumstances. After the story is published, we know all the facts. We dont know what the home-owner saw or how dark and shadowed the situation was. The story is not well written. The elderly man rings the bell and tries the door knob yet is shot in the back yard. What happened in between?
Finally, words of wisdom.
I disagree with the statement “after the story is published, we know all the facts.” A lot of people claim facts in the Zimmerman incident simply because the media published them even though they’ve been proven lies.
That is why the media uses the victim’s veteran status. It is to demonize the gun owner as much as possible.
But we only learn it is a 72 years old man after the fact from reporting. Did the shooter know it was a 72 year old man? That is not clear, is it?
This happened at night in a rural area. Who says there was lighting to see the age or race or clothing or demeanor of the man wandering around? It is pretty hard to believe that a homeowner would shoot a 72 year old man if he had known it was a 72 year old man.
Add to this the fog of being wakened from sleep, your imagination fearing the worst, and adrenaline surging. I don’t give the shooter a pass. I wasn’t there.
I’m just reminding people here that knowing all these facts afterward does not mean the homeowner had access to all these facts in the dead of a dark night.
So now the homeowner is murdering disabled people in cold blood.
The hyperbole runs deep on FR.
It wasn’t even his house.
Sad. RIP.
You’d know that better than the rest of us since you were an eyewitness. Please don’t let me hold you; go to the police and make your statement.
Unlike you I actually read the articles posted here.
The only they’re missing from the Liberal talking points is a “racist” angle.
The death of the old man is sad. The speculation and immediate “Niphonging” by people on this website isn’t quite as sad; but damn it they’re trying.
Unlike you I actually read the articles posted here.
And the media NEVER misleads or outright lies, right? I mean MSNBC never doctored the phone call made by George Zimmerman.
Sheep.
“It is highly doubtful that a typical suburban newleywed...”
No that it makes a difference, but fiance and newlywed are not the same thing.
From a longer news article at post #48:
There was no light except for the front porch light, Wilson said, explaining there are no street lights at The Woodlands, the subdivision off North Marble Top Road west of Chickamauga.
[Hendrix] gave several what he described as verbal commands, Wilson said. [Westbrook] continued walking toward him after he told him to stop.
Westbrook was slow to talk, Wilson said, because of his advanced Alzheimers disease.
Fearing for his safety, Hendrix fired four shots, the sheriff said. One bullet hit Westbrook in the chest, killing him.
Try reading the post I was replying to, instead of ASSuming I was talking about something else.
They should demonize idiots.
The idiot just HAPPENED to be a gun owner.
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