Homeowner: No time to think, only time to shoot

Knoxville News Sentinel ^ | 11/12/7 | Don Jacobs

[SmithL]

2 interlopers arrested after one wounded in neck in South Knoxville --

Horace Garland didn't have time to think when two men claiming to be police officers tried to force their way into his South Knoxville home.

He didn't have time to consider why cops would be screaming and yelling on his front porch about midnight Sunday. He didn't have time to be scared. The 63-year-old man only had time to react with the .38-caliber Police Special he kept at his bedside.

Garland, a Vietnam veteran, said he started shooting at "anything I could hit."

"I'm glad he did," said Garland's live-in girlfriend, Kay Cupp. "I believe those guys would have killed us in bed if they could have gotten in."

One of the men, Jeremy Johnson, did get in the house. Garland, who stands 5 feet-9 inches tall and weighs 122 pounds, shot the 21-year-old Johnson through the neck.

Garland and Cupp said they moved to the Chestnut Street house less than two months ago. Garland has relatives in the community, so the couple had no trouble settling into their new neighborhood.

The couple had been in bed about an hour Sunday night, but weren't yet asleep when they heard a commotion on their porch.

"A boy just came up on the porch, hollering and yelling he was KPD," Garland said. "I told 'em I had a pistol."

[SmithL]

When the two interlopers couldn't force the locked door open, they smashed out the chest-high window on the door. Johnson then dove through the broken window "like he was diving into the water," Cupp said.

When Johnson stood up, Garland started firing. One round struck Johnson's neck, dropping him to the carpeted floor of the living room in the single-story home.

"I shot three or four times," Garland said. Although less than five feet separated the two men, only one round struck Johnson, who began screaming for help.

"I was standing back to keep an eye on the other guy and he had a gun," Garland said.

"He was sticking the gun through the window and shot at me. He had a potato stuck on the end of his as a silencer."

The round from the gun wielded by Johnson's step-brother, Timothy Lee Sellers, 26, missed Garland by less than two feet. The round entered the wall of Garland's bedroom at about waist high, pierced the open bedroom door and then struck the bed's wood end board.

With Johnson screaming for help, yelling he was unable to move, Sellers decided he'd had enough.

"He was yelling quit shooting, so I quit," Garland said. "It was over just like that. It happened so fast."

Garland allowed Sellers to clamber through the broken front door window to get to his screaming partner.

"I let him come in and get 'em," Garland said. "I wanted them out of here."

Without a word, Sellers grabbed Johnson and bundled the wounded man through the door window. Blood still marks the spot on the front porch where Johnson hit when he was shoved through the broken window. Then Sellers opened the front door and walked out.

Sellers drove Johnson to the University of Tennessee Medical Center were he was treated for the wound to his neck. A few minutes later, police found Sellers driving on Scottish Pike.

Knox County Sheriff's officers said Sellers and Johnson admitted their involvement and each faces charges of aggravated burglary and attempted aggravated burglary. Each man was being held in jail in lieu of $55,000 bond. Authorities said both men have criminal histories.

The retired Garland said he was puzzled why anyone would target his residence for a home-invasion burglary. He said sheriff's detectives told him the suspects may have thought the previous occupants still lived in the house.

Although Garland said he was concerned he might face a criminal charge, the Knox County Sheriff's Office noted Garland was acting in self defense and does not face any charges.

---

-- Horace Garland, right, and his girlfriend Kay Cupp confronted two robbers who tried to break into their South Knoxville home. Garland ended up shooting one of the robbers in the neck.

[Patriot Hooligan]

Thank you, for teaching 2 punks a hard cold lesson.

“Have gun, will travel.”

Paladins business card

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

I was away earlier this evening for my Mother’s 90th birtday party. I come home and my neighbor tells me she chased a couple of 12 year-olds that were trying to break in to my house. She told them how fortunate they were that I was not home.

;-)

[fuzzthatwuz]

Hard to say if the two bad guys deserve a Darwin nomination, but the homeowner darn sure deserves community recognition.

[tioga]

Good Shootin’ ........

[taxesareforever]

Only $55,000 bail? That’s ridiculous.

[abseaman]

Some place i have one of his business cards, someplace.

Contact him at what hotel in San Fran ?

[coloradan]

Nope, you gotta die to be nominated.

He had a potato stuck on the end of his as a silencer.

Potato registration NOW!!!!

[ironmaidenPR2717]

snicker...the idiot threw his bleeding friend out through the broken window and then he walked out the door.

[matthew fuller]

If this resident had a video of all this, he would be rich. Hilarious! The resident needs a bigger gun and some target practice.

[Southack]

One nice shot saved their lives. Armed felons crashing through your window at night when they *know* that you are home means lights out if you miss them.

[Froggie]

http://www.hgwt.com/hgwt2.htm

[Magic Fingers]

I have one of his business cards someplace, too.

IIRC it’s:

Have Gun Will Travel
Wire Paladin
San Francisco

[adm5]

One nice shot saved their lives. Armed felons crashing through your window at night when they *know* that you are home means lights out if you miss them.

He might want to get "The Judge". Saw it in last months Rifleman - A 5-shot revolver able to shoot .410 shotshells and/or .45

http://www.gunsandammomag.com/blog/blog071807/

[Titan Magroyne]

Hilarious - like “undoing” that diving entry.

[Titan Magroyne]

Still laughing over the re-diving exit out of this veteran’s home...

[weegee]

They identified themselves as police officers. That ought to chill officers who do think they can just barge into someone’s house at night and expect the homeowner to remain unarmed.

[Thud]

They wonder why no-knock raids are so dangerous.

"... when two men claiming to be police officers tried to force their way into his South Knoxville home."

[Charles Martel]

"He was sticking the gun through the window and shot at me. He had a potato stuck on the end of his as a silencer."

Geez, that's a trick I hadn't seen mentioned in years. The last time I saw that, it was in an episode of Shaft. Well, that dude Shaft *was* a bad mother... :-)

I wonder if the BATFE will bring federal charges against Johnson for possessing an unregistered, untaxed silencer.

[bajabaja]

I did not see “impersonating a police officer” as one of the charges. Facts seem to warrant it.