From King County Sheriff's Office
Just prior to 3am on Thursday May 5, 2016, Shoreline police responded to the 100 block of NE 174th after a 19 year old female called to report that someone was trying to break into her family’s house. The caller told dispatchers that she was at home with her 11 year old sister and both her parents and that they had locked themselves in a back bedroom of the house. She also told dispatchers that the father had armed himself with a gun.
She went on to say that prior to the family going to hide in the bedroom, they had seen and heard a man kicking at their doors and trying to break-in. She explained that the suspect was not wearing a shirt and was yelling profanities. After approximately three minutes on the line with 911, she reported hearing the sound of glass breaking at the front of the house.
At this point, the father / homeowner, armed with his 9mm handgun, left the bedroom where his wife and daughters were hiding and went to the front of the house where the sound of breaking glass had come from. As the homeowner came into the front living room area of the house, he encountered the suspect standing just outside the front window and door he had just broken out by throwing lawn furniture through. As the suspect began advancing toward him from just outside the broken door and windows, the homeowner fired two rounds at the suspect, hitting him one time in the upper right thigh.
Deputies were arriving on scene as this last encounter was occurring and heard the two shots. Once at the house, Deputies found the suspect in the front yard with a single gunshot wound to his thigh. Deputies were able to apply a tourniquet and stop or at least slow the bleeding, allowing Shoreline fire to arrive and provide further aid to the suspect before transporting him to Harborview.
At the time of this press release, the suspect was in surgery and is expected to survive.
The suspect is a 41 year old W/M that lives in the same neighborhood as this incident. Once released from Harborview, he will be booked into the King County Jail for investigation of Burglary.
The homeowner is not expected to be charged with any crimes.
Pretty interesting that this homeowner (who may or may not be a member of some law enforcement organization) managed to injure, not kill, the intruder. Yet multiple police officers seem only able to kill when they shoot at offenders. Perhaps this victim could offer training to the officers.
ReplyDeleteThat's the way they are trained, go for the torso, less chance of missing, better chance of stopping.
ReplyDeleteYes Nanook is correct. Police training would be to target center mass. This minimizes the chances of stray bullets. As in this case, the homeowner fired two shots and only one hit the intruder. That leaves one stray bullet flying around the home or the neighborhood. 9mm bullets have pretty good penetration through common building materials. I believe, from the article that the family was locked into the back bedroom and firing a shot was a last resort. The stray bullet could have easily struck the approaching officers. What a terrifying situation for this family!
ReplyDelete