{?I?m a life member of the National Rifle Association and I
personally love homeowners being able to defend themselves
and their families,? King said.”}

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Violent Burglars with bat and pellet gun confront armed homeowner
Date: Nov 18, 2007 3:45 PM
FYI (copy below):
http://pulaskicountyweekly.com/articles/2007/11/16/news/news02.txt
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News Sunday, November 18, 2007
Disabled man pulls gun, ends violent armed robbery spree

Published: Friday, November 16, 2007 4:33 PM CST

Darrell Todd Maurina

A disabled man defending himself with a firearm from people
trying to break into his trailer appears to have stopped a
crime spree early Thursday morning that several hours
earlier sent two motel occupants to a Springfield hospital
with head injuries.

According to Pulaski County Sheriff?s Department logs, at
3:34 a.m., deputies received a report that two men had
kicked in the door of a room at the Fort Wood Inn at the
Buckhorn exit of Interstate 44 and attacked those in the
room with a baseball bat.

?They severely beat two individuals; one was immediately
helicoptered to Springfield and the other was later flown to
Springfield,? said Sheriff J.B. King, who due to the extent
of the victims? injuries didn?t have their names or many
details of the incident.

The injuries were predominantly blunt force trauma and
lacerations to the head, King said. The medical condition
of the victims wasn?t immediately available but presumed to
be serious.

?The deputy said he was worried about them, and that tells
me about all I need to know,? King said.

After the deputy finished investigating the Fort Wood Inn
incident, the sheriff?s office received a call from a man
and his wife on Reporter Road who told deputies that they
had caught a juvenile breaking into their mobile home about
a mile north of Waynesville and were holding him at
gunpoint. They said another man who had tried to break into
their home had already fled.

King said the couple told him they were confronted in their
home about 6 a.m. by a man in his 30s and a 16-year-old
male. The older intruder pulled a handgun, but apparently
didn?t anticipate that his intended victim ? a disabled man
in his 40s who takes medication for serious back pain ?
might not be an easy target.

?The homeowner pulled his weapon and the suspect fled,? King
said. ?The suspect had a pellet gun; the homeowner had a
real gun.?

The deputy left the Fort Wood Inn and headed toward the
Reporter Road address, but while driving on Highway T on his
way to Reporter Road, at 6:09 a.m., he saw a small silver
passenger car matching the description of a car that had
fled the Fort Wood Inn.

?My deputy made a split-second decision to pursue the
suspect vehicle on Highway T,? King said. ?He made a snap
decision in a critical incident and it will bear major
fruit.?

The sheriff?s department had only one deputy on duty in the
early morning hours, so sheriff?s dispatchers called
Waynesville police to assist with securing the juvenile
being held at gunpoint by the homeowner; King responded from
his home, took custody of the juvenile from Waynesville
police, and transported him to the county jail where he
awaits filing of charges.

King said the homeowner showed him a baseball bat left by
the juvenile in the living room of the trailer on Reporter
Road; the deputy found a pellet gun after stopping the car
on Highway T, along with a laptop computer believed to have
been stolen from the Fort Wood Inn.

No decision has yet been made by the prosecutor on whether
to try the juvenile as an adult due to the nature of the
crime, King said. The older man is being held on an
unrelated federal warrant pending filing of charges.

Additional charges are likely following investigation of
other incidents, King said.

?Basically we had two major crimes in a short period of
time,? King said. ?I think when the smoke clears on this
one, based upon what I now know, we will have a very solid
case.?

?There are a couple of things out there I can?t tell you
that will expand this even bigger,? King said.

King commended the deputy for his quick reaction on Highway
T, but also said he appreciated the homeowner?s steps to
defend himself and detain his assailant until law
enforcement arrived.

?I?m a life member of the National Rifle Association and I
personally love homeowners being able to defend themselves
and their families,? King said.

Names of the suspects haven?t yet been released pending
filing of charges; King said he didn?t have the identity of
the two people beaten with a baseball bat and hadn?t yet
learned whether the Reporter Road resident wanted to have
his name released.

It?s not clear whether the Thursday morning incidents have
any relationship to an armed robbery only a few hours
earlier. According to police logs, St. Robert police
responded to an armed robbery at a Subway restaurant in
their city and notified other agencies to be on the lookout
for suspects in their case.