Exercising the Right
Mentally Ill Intruder
The CBS affiliate out of Austin, Texas, reported on January 20 about a situation wherein a man with a history of bipolar disorder broke in to a family’s house in the middle of the night.
The suspect was 25-year-old Randy Dorsett. His relatives explained that he has been struggling with a mental illness since he was diagnosed at 17 years old and said that Dorsett committed the act during a manic episode. Authorities believe Dorsett tried opening the front door and eventually entered the house through the garage. The mother, who was home with her children, had already called police minutes earlier to report a strange man sitting in his car in her driveway. When Dorsett entered her house, the mother grabbed a “large-caliber gun” and confronted him in her kitchen. She repeatedly told him to leave, but Dorsett refused. The woman fired her gun, and shot Dorsett once in the stomach.
Investigators say the mother acted lawfully. Hays County Sheriff Gary Cutler told KEYETV.com that the mother of the children fired her gun for “fear of her family and herself.... She fired one round with a handgun striking him in the abdominal area.” Police arrived on the scene and discovered the injured Dorsett, who gave medics a rambling reason for why he was in the house. Dorsett is currently in a mental health facility and is facing charges related to the burglary.
The Deterrent Effect
WTVM.com reported on January 19 out of Mobile, Alabama, about a robbery suspect who picked the wrong target. The robbery victim was with his girlfriend in the parking lot of his apartment complex when he was approached by the suspect, who was armed with a handgun.
Mobile Police Public Information Officer Terrence Perkins told WTVM.com that the suspect and his girlfriend “were unloading groceries from the vehicle” in the parking lot of their apartment building when the “unknown male subject armed with a handgun approached him and demanded his property.” The robbery victim complied with the armed robber’s demands and gave the suspect his wallet but, at the same time, grasped his own firearm in his pocket and fired the weapon while it was still within his jacket pocket. The victim fired off multiple shots, and two of the bullets hit the armed robber in the chest. The injured suspect ran away, but did not get far, as he collapsed in the breezeway between two apartment buildings. Police were soon called to the scene, and they discovered the deceased robbery suspect’s body lying on the ground. Police recovered the handgun the deceased suspect used in the robbery, as well as the wallet that he stole from the victim. Police are calling the shooting justified, although they will present it to a grand jury, which they explained is routine. “What led us to believe we have enough to present it as justifiable homicide is that the victim was actually in a place where he lawfully had a right to be.... He was unloading his groceries,” Perkins explained to WTVM.com.
Mobile Police Chief James Barber further explained in a January 19 press conference that he believes such incidents could work to deter future criminal activity: “I think it does have a deterrent effect when people understand that some citizens are armed and can lawfully possess a weapon and use it.... It does have some effect.” Al.com reported comments that Barber made when talking to the media about the shooting: “Everyone has a fundamental right to protect themselves from serious injury or death.... When threatened, you can protect yourself.” He also discussed the questions that would come before the grand jury when they’re evaluating whether to indict or not: “When you have someone point the weapon point at you, do you feel your life is in danger? That’s the legal threshold we have to overcome and, again, it’s a grand jury question.... But when someone does point a weapon at you, you do have reason to fear for your life.”
The residents of the apartment building shared Barber’s views and are now considering arming themselves for self-protection. Adrian Moorer, who lives in one of the apartments, told WKRG.com that he heard the shots and then witnessed the aftermath from his balcony. “We were watching Monday Night Raw and we heard about 3 or 4 shots go off in the area. We look out the window and the next thing we see is the shooter walking over there with his gun out.... Come to find out, the guy was trying to rob him.... It really makes me think twice about being safe and stuff. I think I might have to go out and buy a gun now.”
Terrifying Pit Bull Attack
KDKA.com reported out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on January 10 about an armed man who saved the life of a young boy being attacked by a pit bull. Neighbors heard a 14-year-old boy screaming for help after a pit bull began viciously mauling his seven-year-old brother. A woman who lived nearby heard the cries for help and told her husband immediately. “I told my husband to come outside and to bring his gun, that a kid is being attacked by a dog, and he ran up,” the woman told KDKA.com. The armed man ran into the home and witnessed the 80-pound pit bull on top of the boy, with the boy’s face clamped in the dog’s mouth. The wife explained to KDKA.com that her husband shot the dog “in the rear and that made the dog release ... but then the dog kept coming. And then he shot the dog in the upper body.” The wife heard two gunshots and then saw her husband walking out of the house with the injured boy in his arms. “He [the boy] kept screaming that he was going to die.... And we kept reassuring him that he wasn’t going to die,” the woman told KDKA.com. The child was treated at a nearby medical facility for severe lacerations to his facial area, but he’s listed in stable condition and expected to improve.
Authorities say the pit bull belonged to a friend of the boys’ mother. Authorities also say that the children were home alone and the 14-year-old was watching his younger brother at the time of the sudden attack. The local community is hailing the armed man as a hero, but he doesn’t want any accolades. “He’s glad that he was able to do it in order to save the kid’s life.... We have children and ones around the same age as this little boy. It kind of hits home,” the wife explained to KDKA.com.
— Patrick Krey
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