Free Republic

We know that honest citizens defend themselves with firearms thousands of times a day. These defenders also save strangers. What is more unusual is that sometimes those heroic events are reported in the news. Here is how Kelcey Willis saved a five-year-old boy last week in Warner Robins, Georgia. What do you do on the weekend? Kelcey Willis, the defender in this tale, was taking his car to Walmart to change the oil that Sunday. It was about 2 pm when Willis and a friend talked to the technician at the auto center. They were distracted by a child’s scream...

Three Oklahoma teenagers were killed when they broke into a house and were met by a homeowner with an AR-15. Now the grandfather of one of the teenagers is speaking out about his grandson’s death. According to KTUL-TV, Leroy Schumacher, grandfather of 17-year-old Jacob Redfearn, believes the death of Redfearn was unjustified because the homeowner’s AR-15 gave him an unfair advantage over the three burglars. Speaking to KTUL, Schumacher acknowledged that breaking into a house was “stupid,” but death was not the appropriate consequence. “What these three boys did was stupid,” Schumacher said. “They knew they could be punished for...

Pembroke Park officials to hold special meeting ... PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – As the clock ticks for Pembroke Park to secure police coverage before its contract with the Broward Sheriff’s Office expires Saturday, one potential option is now off the table. It also appears the town may be scrambling to get its startup in-house police department, scheduled to launch in 2023, up and running in mere days. If nothing happens, the south Broward town of about 6,000 people will have no police patrolling its streets. BSO deputies would only respond to emergency calls, as dictated by state statute, and could...

A man casually carrying a shotgun and claiming to be from Chicago walked into a Florida convenience store during an attempted robbery but walked out when a clerk displayed his own weapon, authorities said. Rakim Stephen Tate, 32, made a bad decision that "became a worse decision" when he walked into a convenience store on Sept. 9 with a visible shotgun to his side, the Escambia County Sheriff's Office said Monday. He is charged with openly carrying a prohibited weapon and attempted robbery with a firearm. Tate walked around the store for a few seconds before a clerk out of...

by Joshua Ford | 24NewsThree armed men attempted a home invasion of a residence in Texas. However, two of the home invaders never made it off the property because a 17-year-old blasted the alleged burglars with a shotgun.Three armed men wearing masks broke into a home in east Harris County around 10:40 p.m. on Friday, police said. Inside the home were an adult female, a 12-year-old boy, and two 17-year-old males. One of the 17-year-old reacted to the break-in by grabbing a shotgun.Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said the 17-year-old fired several times and struck two of the suspects who...

HOUSTON - Officials say two would-be home invaders in Channelview were killed overnight Saturday and a third remains at large after they were confronted by a teen inside armed with a shotgun. According to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, three men in masks tried to break into a home in the 16000 block of 1st St. in east Harris County near Channelview First Baptist Church. Last night in Channelview at the 16000 blk of First Street, three adult males attempted to force entry into a home. The males were armed and wearing masks. The home was occupied by an adult...

DETROIT (AP) — A young man suspected of randomly killing three people on Detroit streets fled when an armed bystander saw him shoot a fourth person and responded with his own gunfire, witnesses told a TV station. "He scattered like a jack rabbit,” Wallace Pleasant told WXYZ-TV. Three people were killed over roughly two hours early Sunday. The 19-year-old suspect remained in custody Tuesday while police and prosecutors prepared to file charges Wednesday. The suspect shot a fourth person, an 80-year-old man who was walking his dog, according to police. He survived. Kaia Maxey-Gholson told the TV station that she...

ONTARIO — An intruder who was shot during a home invasion on Saturday is expected to survive, although he was transported to a local hospital for emergent care following the incident. If he is released from the hospital, Terry Lee Martz, 67, will be taken into custody by law enforcement. However, it will be Idaho law enforcement, as Martz has active felony warrants out of Idaho. Idaho Department of Corrections had Martz listed on its most wanted list since October of 2020. He was listed as a fugitive with a parole violation for kidnapping/rape/sexual abuse of a minor. According to...

Illinois State Police announced Wednesday that it has forced nearly 300 people in southern Illinois to give up ownership of their firearms after they had their firearms rights revoked.As part of a “firearms enforcement blitz” from June 16 to July 31 in 41 southern Illinois counties, including St. Clair, Madison, Monroe, Clinton and Randolph counties, state police officers performed 710 “compliance checks,” which resulted in 295 people being “placed into compliance” with the state’s Firearms Owners Identification Card, or FOID card, law.Illinois State Police said those placed in compliance had to do the following:▪ Surrender their FOID card.▪ Transfer all...

Minneapolis police say a man is in the hospital with serious injuries after he shot back at three people who tried to rob him Friday afternoon in the city’s Phillips neighborhood. According to a Minneapolis Police Department spokesman, officers responded to a report of a shooting at around 2:07 p.m. near the intersection of 22nd Street East and 10th Avenue South. A man with “potentially life-threatening gunshot wounds” was given first aid before medics took him to the hospital. Investigators say the man was walking to his car when three males approached him and demanded his keys and phone. One...

The mother, who asked not to be identified, told TMJ4 News that she was in the shower when she heard her 12 and 14-year-old children screaming from the living room. MILWAUKEE — A woman, defending her children, she claimed, shot and killed an intruder who broke into her home on Monday morning. The mother, who asked not to be identified, told TMJ4 News that she was in the shower when she heard her 12 and 14-year-old children screaming from the living room. Without hesitation, she raced to her bedroom, grabbed her gun, and ran into the hallway to face down...

A Florida college student was shot and killed on Sunday in Alabama trying to protect himself and his girlfriend after they were apparently held at gunpoint by a woman who claimed she was having trouble with her car, according to the Clay County (Alabama) Sheriff’s Office:On Sunday, August 14, 2022, at approximately 11:30 am, 911 notified Clay County Sheriff’s Office and dispatched Clay County Rescue Squad and Shinbone Valley Volunteer Fire Department to National Forrest Service Road 600-3 near Cheaha Mountain for a 22-year-old male who had been shot. There were no other details on this call that were known...

A special agent for the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tabacco, Firearms, and Explosives) in Colorado Springs has resigned after 18 years of service. In his resignation letter obtained by 13 Investigates, Brandon Garcia says he cannot support the way criminals are being handled by the current government. The ATF is a federal law enforcement agency within the Department of Justice. ATF has a field offices in Denver and Colorado Springs. ... Garcia, who according to his resignation letter has served in law enforcement for 18 years, has concerns about the over 5,000 ATF agents nationally. "The last time morale was...

Instead of waiting for the police, a law-abiding citizen with a concealed carry license (also known as a 'good guy with a gun') took matters into his own hands and acted quickly, drawing his weapon and killing a gunman who was about to "shoot up the crowd" at a party in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday night.Local news CBS12 said a fight broke out between 20 people at a family gathering on Division Avenue and 4th Street in West Palm Beach. At that moment, a 22-year-old male retrieved a short-barreled shotgun from his car and threatened to "shoot up...

A 13-year-old boy is dead after he and a group of others allegedly tried to break into a parked car, only for the owner to show up in time for a fatal confrontation, police said, according to local Fox32. Law enforcement officials said that the boy, Dion Young, was one of "four to five" males who were trying to break into a car parked in Woodlawn, on the South Side of Chicago. Then the car's owner, a woman in her 30s with a concealed carry license, arrived. According to police, when the woman confronted the group, one of the males...

The problem is that they’re in common use.. New York Congressman Jerry Nadler openly admitted at a House Judiciary Committee hearing this week that the point of gun control legislation being pushed by Democrats is to confiscate firearms in “common use”. When questioned by GOP North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop if Democrats dispute that the “Assault Weapons Ban of 2021,” proposes to ban guns currently in “common use” nation-wide, Nadler, chairman of the committee, replied “That’s the point of the bill.” “So, to clarify, Mr. Chairman, you’re saying it is the point of the bill to ban weapons that are...

A customer at a QuikTrip convenience store in St. Charles, Missouri, killed an armed robber Saturday after the man had allegedly held a knife to the store clerk’s throat during a robbery spree. The dead man, later identified as 26-year-old Lance Bush — a homeless man from St. Louis — began his robbery spree at about 3 a.m. Saturday by carrying out an armed robbery at a Mobile on The Run convenience store on 1401 S. Fifth St. in St. Charles, according to KMOV-TV in St. Louis. According to KTVI-TV, the man stole from the store’s cash drawers by holding...

~~~~~~~~~SNIP~~~Eli Dicken - Photo Courtesy: Attorney Guy A. RelfordDicken reportedly hit the bad guy from 40 yards away with his 9mm Glock on the very first shot.(Chief) Ison explained to WRTV, Dicken's first shot at the gunman was from 40-50 yards away and it appeared the very first shot hit the gunman.Dicken was able to hit the gunman with additional rounds.On Tuesday, Johnson County Coroner Mike Pruitt said an autopsy found the suspect had eight gunshot wounds and none were self-inflicted.He fired 10 shots, so he landed 80% of his shots at that range!!! If you aren't familiar with guns,...

Charleston, W.Va. — Police say a woman's actions may have prevented a mass casualty event following an altercation about a man speeding through a neighborhood. "She did the right thing. I don't know if any other person would have done that," said Lt. Tony Hazelett with the Charleston Police Department. Charleston police said it all started when 37-year-old Dennis Butler was speeding up and down a parking lot inside the Vista View apartments. He was approached by people attending a graduation party and a birthday party, who asked him to slow down, as children were playing. Witnesses said Butler seemed...

Critics are lashing out after a man carrying a pistol stopped a mass shooting at an Indiana shopping mall, arguing the man should not be called a "Good Samaritan." "The term, ‘Good Samaritan’ came from a Bible passage of a man from Samaria who stopped on the side of the road to help a man who was injured and ignored," wrote CBS4 traffic anchor Justin Kollar on Twitter Monday. "I cannot believe we live in a world where the term can equally apply to someone killing someone… my God."