Police in Murfreesboro, Tennessee say no charges are expected against a homeowner who shot two home invaders on Friday night, fatally injuring one of the two men.
52-year-old Kevin Ford was found by arriving officers deceased at the front door of the home, while 43-year-old Clifford Wright was taken into custody a couple of blocks away after managing to flee the scene with minor injuries. The suspect was quickly treated and released from the local hospital and taken to jail to face charges of aggravated burglary, attempted aggravated robbery, felon in possession of a firearm, as well as possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent felony.
Authorities haven’t said if the two suspects knew the homeowner or if his residence was targeted randomly, but there’s no doubt that the armed resident was justifiably in fear for his own life as well as the lives of family members.
Based on the preliminary investigation, authorities said the two intruders put on masks and gloves, broke into the home through the front door, tased the family dog, and held the homeowner’s teenage son at gunpoint.
The homeowner allegedly grabbed his gun and shot the two intruders several times, but he is not facing any charges.
Officials said three people were inside the house at the time of the home invasion.
They tased the dog? I’m surprised authorities didn’t add a charge of cruelty to animals to the laundry list of criminal counts that Wright is facing, though I guess that would be pretty small potatoes compared to aggravated burglary and felon-in-possession. And honestly, given how common plea bargains are in our criminal justice system, I’d be afraid that prosecutors would offer him a deal on the animal cruelty charges and give him a pass on the more serious crimes he’s accused of committing.
Thankfully it doesn’t sound like anyone other than the suspects were seriously injured in the home invasion, including the family dog. The teenage son was unharmed, as was the unidentified third person in the home, because Dad was able to get to his firearm and respond to the threat at hand.
Who knows what might have happened if the armed citizen hadn’t been able to reach his pistol, or even worse, been completely unarmed when the masked men burst through his door and attacked his family. Maybe they wouldn’t have pulled the trigger once they’d pointed a gun at the teen, but if it were me and one of my kids, there’s no way I’m going to put my faith in the armed stranger to do the right thing or to show a little mercy.
No, I think this father reacted the way the vast majority of us would if we were put in that same terrible position. With the exception of gun prohibitionists like New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who apparently doesn’t believe in the right of self-defense, I doubt most folks have a problem with the father shooting the armed assailants who broke into his house, tased his dog, and put a gun to his child. It’s a shame these two grown men made a series of bad choices last Friday night, but the armed citizen made the right call; not only to defend his family in the moment, but to exercise his right to armed self-defense long before his domicile was ever invaded.