Something was odd about the stranger Joe King faced one night outside his home southeast of Hendersonville, North Carolina. The young man said he had locked his keys in a white Chevy pickup parked nearby. But King, who had just driven up, thought the guy might have burgled his property. King told the man to stay put while he called 911, but the man grabbed King’s cell phone and threw it.
“Then he pulled a gun on me, which happened to be my gun that he got from under my bed,” King said in an interview with the Hendersonville Lightning. “So I knew it was loaded.”
King, 69, has emphysema and carries an oxygen bottle. But during this incident, he also had a concealed-carry permit and another pistol. Both men opened fire, but all rounds missed. The suspect ran off while King rushed inside to call 911. But then the man returned.
“He tried to beat the window out with a flashlight,” King told the Hendersonville Lightning. “He couldn’t do that, so he shot the window out. I was on the phone with the sheriff’s department, and I said, ‘The son of a b—- is shooting at me again!’”
The burglar fled again, but he left a huge dose of evidence—the white Chevy, filled with about $4,000 worth of King’s property, said Major Frank Stout, a Henderson County Sheriff’s spokesman.
Stout explained that detectives traced the truck to its owner, Joshua James Quisenberry of Hendersonville (pictured). It turned out there were already warrants for his arrest on domestic-violence-related issues. Deputies arrested the suspect shortly after the incident. By month’s end, he had been jailed and faced five more charges from the burglary at King’s home.
Shot In The Face
Las Vegas 911 operators got busy around 1 a.m. when residents of a south-side neighborhood frantically reported a man trying to bust into their homes. A woman called from Maddelena Avenue, saying a man slid through the dog door in her home.
The woman said the burglar had a big knife, but her husband shot him in the face, according to court and police records. The homeowner, with his hands raised, told responding officers that he had set the gun on the front porch.
When police arrived, the suspect was sitting on the kitchen floor with a bloody hole between his eyes, according to authorities. But the suspect, Alexander Gonzales (pictured), survived the wound. He was treated at the hospital and then taken to jail to face charges of burglary with a deadly weapon, attempted burglary and possession of methamphetamine.
Second Strike
It was a creepy elevator ride for a woman in Louisville, Kentucky, last winter. The man sharing the ride had been following her since she first noticed him in the food court of a downtown entertainment complex.
According to a police report, the woman said the man “made her feel uneasy.” When the elevator opened to the parking garage, she “ran to her vehicle,” police said. The man chased her with a knife, bashed her head and demanded money.
The woman was “afraid [the attacker] would attempt to rape and murder her,” police said in their report. She then drew a gun and pulled the trigger—but it didn’t fire.
The man then punched the victim in the face and thrust the knife at her head, police said. The woman then pulled the trigger on her gun again and ended the attack.
The wounded man ran, but police caught up with him later and took him to the hospital. A month later, John Ganobcik was in jail facing charges of robbery, wanton endangerment and assault, according to police records. The woman sustained only an “apparent minor injury,” police said.
Fake Gun, Real Arrest
There’s a saying that warns against bringing a knife to a gunfight. Maybe the same could be said about using a fake gun in a robbery. A 24-year-old man learned that the hard way when he allegedly tried to rob a store in southeast Pensacola, Florida.
Police said in a news release that the incident began around 2:25 a.m. when the suspect entered the Beacon Store wearing a bandana over his face. The 20-year-old store clerk ordered the man to remove the face cover, but he refused, police said.
“The suspect went behind the counter, pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the clerk, who believed it was real,” according to the release. The clerk pulled his own gun—which was real—and shot the masked man through the neck as he fled with 10 cartons of cigarettes and some cash, police said.
Officers set up a perimeter and a K9 team tracked him to a spot about two blocks south of the store. Police said the suspect, Jarell Blackmon of Pensacola, was treated at the hospital and then jailed on several charges. For example, police determined that the firearm used by Blackmon was fake, but that it did not prevent him from being charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Caught Dead-Handed
Police on the west side of Mobile, Alabama, found a dead teen holding a stolen wallet. A handgun lay next to him. The discovery was the result of a hold-up reported around 8 p.m. at an apartment complex on Old Shell Road.
Charlette Solis, a police spokeswoman, said in a news release that the 28-year-old victim was unloading groceries from his car. Suddenly, another person “approached and robbed him of his wallet at gunpoint,” Solis said.
She added that the victim “managed to grab his own pistol, which was in his jacket pocket, and shot the subject through his pocket.”
The suspect, later identified as 18-year-old Michael Clark, fled across the parking lot. Officers found his body later in the breezeway of one of the apartment buildings, “with the victim’s wallet in his left hand and a revolver on the ground near his right hand,” Solis said. He was fatally wounded twice in the chest.
Solis noted that the shooting was “justifiable,” but that it would also be submitted to a grand jury.
Nap Time
An Indiana truck driver was shocked last January when he arrived at his home to find it burglarized. He was also surprised to find the intruder taking a nap, according to a news release from the La Porte County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators learned that the suspect, a homeless man, got removed from a commuter train because he didn’t have the fare, the South Bend Tribune reported. They believe he subsequently busted a window to enter the Hudson Lake home.
The suspect filled a duffel bag with clothing, food and a couple guns. Then he stretched out for a nap, investigators told the Tribune.
Kody Marvel, the 26-year-old truck driver, held the man at gunpoint until sheriff’s deputies arrived. “I’m just glad I had my gun on me,” Marvel told the Tribune. The suspect, William Boone, was charged with felony burglary, according to the news release.
“While it is certainly risky when you encounter a burglar, it is well within a homeowner’s rights to do so,” said Sheriff John Boyd. “Most importantly, no one was injured, and we commend the homeowner in this case for his quick thinking and bravery.”
Three Vs. One
A robber burst into a store on the east side of Dallas looking for loot, but he lost his life instead. The robber and at least two others tried to rob the store at gunpoint, according to a news release from Senior Corporal Tramese Andrews, a police spokeswoman.
“The owner of the business fired a shot, striking one of the suspects,” the release stated. “Two of the suspects fled the location before officers arrived.”
The wounded man died at the scene, according to the release.
The investigation was continuing a month later, but store owner, Bunthan Te, gave more details to KDFW-TV Fox 4. “They come to chase me and shoot me,” he told Fox 4. “And I got into the cooler. I take time to pull my gun.”
Te said one of the men shot at him, but he added, “I shot back.”
Old Slabsides
One thing about using an ax to burgle a home, it creates a racket. Joe Milspaugh, 92, had no trouble hearing how the stroke of an ax shattered a window at his home in San Jacinto, California.
Suddenly faced with a young burglar in his home, Milspaugh, a World War II veteran, knew what to do. “I got my 1911 .45,” a chuckling Milspaugh told CBS Los Angeles. “I let off a shot and he took off running.”
Sgt. Craig McDonald added, “It is believed the suspect was not hit by the bullet; however, he immediately fled the scene, leaving behind the ax and several other items.”
Milspaugh said he didn’t shoot to kill. “I could have shot him straight in the head, right between the eyes,” he told KNBC-TV, “but I didn’t want to do that. I would’ve been in trouble.” Several days after the break-in, investigators were still searching for the burglar.
Bad Choices
A suspect in a botched home invasion in Oklahoma City is also accused of the murder of his accomplice, even though he didn’t fire the fatal shot.
Police believe that Christopher Alexander and Bobby Perkins kicked in the door of an apartment on South May Avenue on the city’s south side. But they were met with gunfire, according to Sgt. Ashley Peters, a police spokeswoman.
The 26-year-old apartment dweller shot Perkins, who stumbled outside where responding officers found him. “Perkins was pronounced deceased at the scene,” Peters said.
Two days later, investigators determined Alexander’s involvement and tracked him to nearby Moore, Oklahoma. They arrested him on charges of first-degree burglary and first-degree murder. As Peters explained, Alexander received the murder charge because someone had died as a direct result of his actions, in this case his accomplice. “Based on those elements,” she added, “anyone is susceptible of being charged with felony murder.”
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