“The burglar was first seen smashing windows just after midnight at a business in the 2700 block of North Pittsburgh. A neighbor saw him, called police and then chased after him. As police began tracking him with K-9s, just 15 minutes later that burglar — Sean Denny — showed up at a home in the 2000 block of East Dalton.” He chose poorly . . .
This, from kxly.com:
“Lady called saying that somebody had forced their way into her house, she had grabbed a firearm that she kept for her own personal protection, fired one round, ended up hitting the wall and then she held him at gunpoint in her living while the police responded, (Spokane Police Lieutenant Dean) Sprague said.
That lady was Sandy Mize. She’s a grandmother of so she knows how to deal with unruly behavior.
Authorities said that Mize’s actions couldn’t have been more appropriate, and they recognized her efforts for a job well done by giving her a Spokane Junior Police Badge.
One of her grandchildren will surely know what to do with that badge.
Go Granny go!
Never underestimate the elderly, old age is not for sissies
Who says she was all that elderly? Many women are grandmothers by the time they’re 40. In any event, good on her, though I wonder what she would have done if the intruder had simply decided to walk out of her house. Would she have been justified in perforating him?
C.R. , I’m not a legal expert. But here in California if the intruder is leaving and not firing shooting him in the back would probably set you up for some george zimmerman style head aches.
I don’t consider myself a humanitarian but I’ve always said you only fire when you have no other option. Let him run away if that is what’s happening. The threat to you and yours is over and the cops can sort it out without you losing your freedom or your financial security.
jwm, I, too, live in California, and that’s my take on it — once the threat is ended, any damage you do to the threatener is likely to be viewed with extreme displeasure. But several years ao, here in San Diego, there was a situation where a homeowner heard someone trying to get into his house through a bathroom window. The homeowner armed himself and entered the bathroom, whereupon the would-be intruder, who had one leg through the window, withdrew the leg, dropped to the ground and began fleeing. At that point the homeowner shot him, from the window. And the homeowner was exonerated for having done so. I don’t remember whether the shooting victim died or not.
While we can (and apparently would) disagree all day long about Zimmerman’s “actions”, I do vehemently agree with you about granny.
You never shoot unless that is the only option. We are not the judge, jury, and all that. We have the full right to defend ourselves, but if he’s running, we aren’t to be executioners. Threat is neutralized, move on with your life.
He’s lucky it wasn’t a fatal error in the victim selection process as Ayoob says, Randy
The “victim selection process?”
That’s a good phrase.
Hats off to granny. You have to be tough to get old.
I think a Spokane “Senior” Police Badge would have been more appropriate. Good on you, Granny!
Very cool to see reports like this from the home state!
Way to go Grandma!
We should start a junior and senior responsible citizen program. When folks show proper use of a firearm to defend themselves they get a nice certificate from us showing they were recognized for the responsible use of a firearms to defend themselves and their family. I know it doesn’t mean much but honestly folks like this deserve it.
I agree. This is a KAGOTD.
Um, for what does the six letter acronym stand?
I’m just guessing… Kick A** Granny Of the Day.
Grandma Mize is younger than me. So if she’s old, that makes me . . . sad.
Age is all in your mind. Look at me! I’m 60 and I feel like a million! Uhm, wait a minute while I rephrase that.
Age is an example of mind over matter: if you don’t mind, it don’t matter.
I’m not that all old, but I am what you might call a sprung chicken…
You go granny. The reason seniors carry guns is that were to old to get our butts kicked.
I’m in my later 60’s, and when I wake up in the morning I feel like I’m 24. Then I roll over. * sigh *
Remember, everyone, next time a Civilian Disarmament proponent comes at you with that New England Journal of Medicine article claiming a gun in the home is more likely to kill a loved one than to defend them: Non-fatal defensive gun uses like this weren’t taken into account at all.