As reported, a St. Rose, Louisiana homeowner shot two armed burglar who broke in to his home and threatened his life.
Police say that a pair of burglars, who were armed with a pistol, kicked down the down the back door to a St. Rose home. Upon entering the house, one of the robber then reportedly shined his pistol’s laser sight on the homeowner. Fearing for his life, the homeowner is said to have fired one shot from his shotgun, which caused both intruders to flee, according to police. One suspected burglar, 21 year old Michael Cockerham, was found dead from shotgun wounds in a nearby yard, police say. Another suspect, 20 year old Aaron J. Vinnett, was found with non-life-threatening shotgun wounds, and has been charged with attempted aggravated burglary and 2nd degree murder (for the death of his alleged accomplice, under the Felony Murder Rule) according to police. The homeowner was unharmed.
Criminals often work in groups, using superior numbers to overwhelm their victims. When that happens, even the strongest unarmed victims can be overpowered by the criminals, with deadly results. Things are even worse for the victim when those numerically superior criminals are also armed.
When that crime victim is armed, however, things can be quite different. One of the best things about firearms is that they allow a single crime victim to defend themselves against multiple attackers. Here, this homeowner used his handgun to fend off 2 attackers. Similarly, this man used his handgun to defend himself against 3 violent men who broke into his apartment. This business owner used his shotgun to stop 4 armed robbers who where pistol whipping an employee and threatening the lives of everyone present. This mother used her handgun to defend herself and her young children from a pair of home invading prison escapees, while this woman used her gun to fend off 4 home invaders. This man used his gun to save himself and his wife from 4 armed robbers, while this 91 year old man used his handgun to save himself and his wheelchair bound wife from a pair of armed criminals who invaded their house. Armed self defense works, and it is often a crime victim’s best chance at avoiding harm.
Please fix this report. Unless the homeowner was using a Taurus Judge or similar handgun loaded with a .410 shotshell, this report is not accurate. The facts suggest that the homeowner used a shotgun. The propaganda afterwards says that the homeowner used a handgun and then goes on to cite many other cases where a person repelled criminals with handguns.
Like all the self defense cases I discuss on this website, I get the facts from the local news report. That news report stated that the citizen used a shotgun in self defense. I have no reason to doubt that news report, but if you have some facts (rather than speculation) indicating that the news report is inaccurate, please feel free to post a link to those facts.
The purpose of the other self defense cases that I discuss is not to make a shotgun versus handgun comparison. Instead, my point is that self defense works.