GA Mom shoots intruder - NRA spreads story - This story is weird..

Saw this on yahoo earlier:

news.yahoo.com...

A Georgia mother who shot an intruder at her home has become a small part of the roaring gun control debate, with some firearms enthusiasts touting her as a textbook example of responsible gun ownership.

The National Rifle Association tweeted a link to a news story about the shooting, and support poured in from others online, hailing Herman as a hero. The local sheriff said he was proud of the way she handled the situation.

"This lady decided that she wasn't going to be a victim, and I think everyone else looks at this and hopes they have the courage to do what she done," Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman said Wednesday.

So thats all fine and dandy. I noticed some strange stuff in this story though.

This is how it supposedly played out when the intruder arrived.

Herman was working from home Friday when she saw a man walk up to the front door. She told police he rang the doorbell twice and then over and over again. He went back to his SUV, got something out and walked back toward the house, a police report said.

oooookk? Riiight.. those don't sound like the actions of a burglar to me? Well thats only what the yahoo article says, lets see what fox news says happened next.

The mom heard knocks on her front door Friday and assumed it was just a solicitor, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

She told her 9-year-old twins not to answer the door and, when the visitor began repeatedly ringing the doorbell, she called her husband at his job and he told her to gather the children and hide.

Wait, what?

Side note: Look at this house!!!

www.foxnews.com...

You mean to tell me the guy just walked up and broke into that house in broad daylight?

Pay close attention, going to go back and forth with how it played out after that between yahoo and fox and Atlanta journal Consitution reports.

Herman took her 9-year-old son and daughter into an upstairs bedroom and locked the door. They went into bathroom and she locked that door, too. She got her handgun from a safe, the report said, and hid with her children.

^yahoo They hid in the bathroom..

As he dialed 911, his 37-year-old spouse, who works from home, collected the children and hid with them in a crawlspace adjoining her office. By that time, the intruder had forced his way into the three-story residence on Henderson Ridge Drive with a crowbar, authorities said. He allegedly rummaged through the home, eventually working his way up to the attic office.

“He opens the closet door and finds himself staring down the barrel of a .38 revolver,”

^ Fox/Atlanta journal constitution. Office closet according to AJC, crawlspace according to Fox.

www.ajc.com...

Ok, now this is crazy to me:

After Donnie Herman told his wife police were on the way, he started shouting: "She shot him. She's shootin' him. She's shootin' him. She's shootin' him. She's shootin' him."
"OK," the dispatcher responded.
"Shoot him again! Shoot him!" Donnie Herman yelled.

^yahoo

It just doesn't sound like the normal actions of a home invader to me, the husband talking like that though.. Maybe they knew the guy?

Lets wrap it up:

The woman fired six bullets, five of which hit Paul Ali Slater in the face and neck area, Chapman said.

While down, the woman and her children ran to a neighbor’s house, and the injured intruder made it out of the home and into his car, the paper reported.

Authorities found Slater a short time later bleeding profusely in a neighbor’s driveway.

^fox - Found in neighbors driveway.

The man drove away in his SUV. Police found the SUV on another subdivision street and discovered a man bleeding from his face and body in a nearby wooded area.

^yahoo - Found in woods.

How did this guy run anywhere with 5 gunshot wounds?

It doesn't make sense to me from any of the sources, the fact that they are so conflicting... just bad reporting i guess.

I think there is something else to this.

This story has been posted a couple times and what do you find unusual about him being shot 5 times? It was only a .38 she needs a stronger gun. 45 would be better with hollow points or a 12 gage shotgun.

If you've been watching the local news (i see you're also from GA), i have noticed a trend.

While the entire country (and generally media) is up in arms (pun not intended) withe the gun debate, the local media (i usually only watch WSB) has been airing stories about gun owning citizens who have used guns to protect and defend themselves.

There seem to be little of the "guns're bad, Mmmmkay," stuff, and more of the "guns helped saved a person's live from a criminal."

Back to the oddities you noticed: I too was curious about A) the fact of the phone conversation, while simultaneously on the phone with 911 and her husband, and B) how the intruder seemed to follow her to the bedroom.

Sounds like he was just looking for an opportunity (to start), which is why the first house he went to had a resident in who answered the door.

How did this guy run anywhere with 5 gunshot wounds?

Flesh wounds. Adrenaline.

But maybe they did know him...

Sounds like people are going crazy to me...

1st - this is a common MO of home invaders here in TX - they were actually doing this in the Dallas area a few months ago.It doesn't sound that abnormal to me - they don't break the door in unless there's 4 or 5 of them & they're armed...otherwise they try to play coy if some big guy answers the door or attack someone if they look vulnerable when they answer the door...depends on the situation but no...it's not weird.
Sometimes they will even send an accomplice around back to look in windows & try to enter while the home owner is distracted talking to the person at the front.

2nd it was a .38 - it's a low velocity small round - it's possible that as long as he wasn't hit in a vital area he could get shot 5 times & still live - has happened many times. In fact that's why the .357 cartridge was invented...because the .38 didn't have enough "pop"

hmmm interesting.

Sounds like idiot journalists cant get the story straight or changed it intentionally because they thought their version sounded better

If this was all above board...and I have no reason to doubt otherwise, then I only have one thing to say...good on her.

reply to post by Grimpachi


I don't find it odd that he was shot 5x and i know a .38 isn't a high caliber.

5 point blank shots though and the guy almost gets away?

She went to her neighbors for help, I guess her neighbors didn't see the guy break into her home with a crowbar OR hear it.

reply to post by 1/2 Nephilim


dont be naive I had some one dressed up as the light and power guy bang on my door for 5minutes and then head to my back door to kick it off the hinges as i came walking down the stairs from the shower scared the stuff outta both of us he ran and nothing like a fat naked tattooed guy chasing you to help with the speed the jerk got away got a week til my sec cam was gone over to find his plates

reply to post by freakshowfatty


I'm not being naive.. I know criminals, and I don't mean they're mentality, I mean personally.

This happened in broad daylight in an upscale neighborhood at a 3 story home. Makes no sense for one guy to pick a random house like that and bust the front door with a crowbar.

Its crazy, what criminal in they're right mind would do that? Your just begging to get caught.. or shot in this case.

reply to post by 1/2 Nephilim


Thats a really good catch there,

Obviously, the money people are trying their hardest to spin this story into a 'pro' guns piece...

some, might actually buy it!

reply to post by 1/2 Nephilim

I'm not being naive.. I know criminals, and I don't mean they're mentality, I mean personally. This happened in broad daylight in an upscale neighborhood at a 3 story home. Makes no sense for one guy to pick a random house like that and bust the front door with a crowbar. Its crazy, what criminal in they're right mind would do that? Your just begging to get caught.. or shot in this case.

I've known quite a few criminals personally as well. If he has done even a slight amount of recon in the neighborhood, he will have knowledge of who is normally home during broad daylight. Act like you are supposed to be there, and people will ignore you. Creep around, and folk's tend to pay more attention.

As for what criminal in their right mind would do this, a vast majority of criminals are not "in their right mind". They ignore the laws that forbid assault, burglary, robbery, rape, kidnapping, and murder. They violate gun and weapon laws that the vast majority of society adhere to. They know the risks going in, and can probably quote the laws better than you or I.

In the end, there are a lot of dumb criminals out there. They don't get the concept of "what's mine is mine". They feel they should reap the rewards of your hard work, and will do anything necessary to take what is yours, up to and including, murder. I see no problem with this lady defending herself and her children. Conspiracy? Just something that happens everyday. The MSM doesn't cover it because it doesn't fit their needs.

Oh, the upscale neighborhood part? Usually, not always, there are less likely to be people home during normal business hours, because these people WORK so they can afford to live there. It's one big WallyWorld for criminals.

Wow, all the discrepancies aside, what a horrible situation to be in with your children, glad it ended this way and not some amber alert for the mother and children...

She did not sound as if she had been properly trained in shoot to kill however.

Originally posted by 1/2 Nephilim
reply to post by Grimpachi

 

I don't find it odd that he was shot 5x and i know a .38 isn't a high caliber.

5 point blank shots though and the guy almost gets away?

She went to her neighbors for help, I guess her neighbors didn't see the guy break into her home with a crowbar OR hear it.

Where are you getting the information that he was shot point blank range? I didn’t read that anywhere. Are you familiar with what being shot a point blank range means? I think you may have a misconception of the meaning of that saying. Please explain a little more of what you believe that means. I think a lot can be cleared up if we are all on the same page here. Thanks.

As far as her neighbors not knowing that here house was being broken into that don’t surprise me does that strike you as strange? Can you elaborate a little more on why you find that odd if you do?

Vast majority of robberies are in the middle of the afternoon when everyone is away from the house. He could ring the door bell to see if someone was home, and if not break in and rob the place...not sure why this would sound weird.

He could also ring the door bell and if she did answer he could just over power her and have a play thing too as he robs the house. Most likely kill her since after getting done with her he would not want any annoying witnesses around...also not what I would call a strange scenario...

Originally posted by antar
Wow, all the discrepancies aside, what a horrible situation to be in with your children, glad it ended this way and not some amber alert for the mother and children...

She did not sound as if she had been properly trained in shoot to kill however.

It sounds like she at least knew how to aim she hit him in the head. The problem is the gun she had was a .38 and it is not a powerful caliber. She probably had it loaded with lead or FMJ rounds. If she had it loaded with hollow points I think the guy wound have died on the scene.

A regular .38 smith and Wesson is a very underpowered gun

A .38 special can fire a regular .38 round but the .38 special rounds have more of a powder charge

A 357 can fire .38, .38 special, and a 357 magnum round which has much more power behind it.

The other thing to consider is what kind of rounds did it have were they regular lead ball rounds, full metal jacket rounds, or were they hollow points? All these factors will greatly influence the lethality of the weapon. IMO she didn’t have it loaded with hollow points because the report says she hit him in the head if it was with a hollow point I would bet he would have died right there on the scene. So far the only thing I have heard is that she had a regular .38 probably with ball ammo. She did well to get a head shot.

reply to post by Grimpachi

Originally posted by Grimpachi
Where are you getting the information that he was shot point blank range? I didn’t read that anywhere. Are you familiar with what being shot a point blank range means? I think you may have a misconception of the meaning of that saying. Please explain a little more of what you believe that means. I think a lot can be cleared up if we are all on the same page here. Thanks.

As far as her neighbors not knowing that here house was being broken into that don’t surprise me does that strike you as strange? Can you elaborate a little more on why you find that odd if you do?

The articles say she was either in a closet or a crawlspace with her kids. The guy opened the closet door or whatever the entry was, I have to assume there wasn't 5 feet between them when she shot him if even that. So thats what i consider point blank.

I think its odd neighbors didn't see or hear because the picture of the house showed no trees, no bushes, just a 3 story house slightly up hill from the road.

This wasn't in the hood, this was upper class suburbs. The kind of place that has a neighborhood watch.

reply to post by Grimpachi


Good info, thanks.

I was trained to aim for the chest area and just keep shooting. The reason being is that the chest area, heart and lungs have so many veins that would have bled out on the scene had she gone for that area.

The story is basically the same, the differences are just journalistic license, so it's more than likely what happened, though I don't get 'the solicitor' bit, unless that's american for plying a trade, we just call them 'salesmen' in fact that scenario disappeared years ago here, except for students selling aerial pictures.

Originally posted by 1/2 Nephilim
reply to post by Grimpachi

 

Originally posted by Grimpachi
Where are you getting the information that he was shot point blank range? I didn’t read that anywhere. Are you familiar with what being shot a point blank range means? I think you may have a misconception of the meaning of that saying. Please explain a little more of what you believe that means. I think a lot can be cleared up if we are all on the same page here. Thanks.

As far as her neighbors not knowing that here house was being broken into that don’t surprise me does that strike you as strange? Can you elaborate a little more on why you find that odd if you do?

The articles say she was either in a closet or a crawlspace with her kids. The guy opened the closet door or whatever the entry was, I have to assume there wasn't 5 feet between them when she shot him if even that. So thats what i consider point blank.

I think its odd neighbors didn't see or hear because the picture of the house showed no trees, no bushes, just a 3 story house slightly up hill from the road.

This wasn't in the hood, this was upper class suburbs. The kind of place that has a neighborhood watch.

Point blank range is generally referred to as 1 meter or 3 feet. As far as people not noticing the criminal entering her home I do not find that at all suspicious. I certainly do not keep tabs on my neighbors and I hope they do not keep tabs on me. If someone did see it would be pure coincidence. Your reference to the hood does not make any sense to me. People generally mind their own business in neighborhoods unless you have a snoopy neighbor. People home get broken into on a daily bases so I do not know where your reasoning is coming from.