“Help me! He’s killing me! He’s killing me!” A South Toledo gun owner heard a woman’s cries for help outside his residence yesterday afternoon. The 29-year-old gun owner grabbed his Roscoe and ran to investigate. Seeing a man using a hatchet to hack at the woman in the cab of a pickup truck, he fired. Afterwards, witnesses credit the pistol-toting good guy with saving the woman’s life.
According to WTVG, the 53-year-old woman survived. Her attacker, identified as 59-year-old Bernard Neyland did not.
TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – It’s a horrifying incident that neighbors say they won’t soon forget.
“I heard this lady screaming,” said one man who didn’t want to be identified. “She was saying, ‘Help me! He’s killing me! He’s killing me!'”
Wednesday afternoon Toledo police say a man and woman were arguing in a truck near the intersection of Nelson and Lodge.
Shortly after, investigators say the man started attacking the woman with a hatchet.
“I thought it was his hand, but it was actually an ax,” said the neighbor.
The unidentified man says he witnessed the man strike the woman multiple times in her arms and face.
“She was bleeding and she was just screaming for her life,” said the man.
As the violence continued, officers say Benjamin Hand, 29, came out from his home shot and killed the attacking man.
Neighbors say they feel it’s a move that ultimately saved the 53-year-old woman’s life.
Using deadly force in defense of a third party carries with it significant risk to the good Samaritan. However, in cases like this one, it does not take a rocket scientist to sort out the good guys from the bad. In this case, Benjamin Hand did a good thing. And his neighbors credit him appropriately with saving the woman’s life.
Bravo Benjamin. You’ve earned our Defensive Gun Use of the Day.
Nice!
NICE? WHY did he have to kill the guy? He should have shot it out of his hand! Seems like there was a disparity in the use of force here…
It was “nice” that the woman was not butchered with an ax.
Here you go:
George Washington Rule of Civility No. 23. “When you see a crime punished, you may be inwardly pleased; but always show pity to the suffering offender. “
Hahaha, your comment made me laugh! I would of shot the SOB, if I had witnessed it! I wouldn’t want to go up against an ax unarmed!
” NICE? WHY did he have to kill the guy? He should have shot it out of his hand! Seems like there was a disparity in the use of force here… ”
That only works in the movies or on TV. If the bad guy lives or dies is out of your control when you’re in a situation where you decide that you have to unholster your weapon and shoot. You’re responsible for every bullet that comes out of the tube. If you “shoot to wound” or fire a warning shot, you may injure of kill an innocent.
A similar thing happened in the city I live in, where a baseball bat-wielding man approached a couple of deputies in front of the courthouse, with intent to harm. He was killed by one of the deputies. Later at a news conference, the Sheriff’s office representative used the above explanation when asked by a Reporter why the deputy didn’t shoot out the knee caps of the baseball bat wielding man.
Reckon there will be no recidivism on the part of the hatchet wielder, yes???
Magic 8 Ball says, “Not likely.”
Hand’s Gun Saves Life
I see what ya did there…
Good thing this was in Ohio. If it was in Kommiefornia, MA, or NJ the good guy would be arrested for using a gun. After all, this woman should have just called 911 and waited for the police while being hacked up to ground meat. (sigh)
Actually, in CA it’s legal to go out of your house armed to protect an innocent person on the street.
It would be wise to disarm before the police got their ‘patrol rifles’ out of their cruisers.
‘patrol rifles’
You mean weapons of war that shouldn’t be on the streets?
Them there is called Assaulter Rifles.
Its only a weapon of war if it’s chambered in 6.5 creedmoor.
Oo…
6.5 would make it a WMD.
Well if it’s in 6.5 Creedmoor it’s what you call a ‘chick magnet’.
The guy shot and killed him with a pistol. He’s just damned lucky he didn’t get shot with a 6.5 Creedmoor.
I think all states have a justifiable homicide law. If not, they certainly should. I know Kalifornia does.
Wow. They have a law.
Does that mean it will be applied evenly, and without bias?
Fat chance.
Instead, like most laws, it will be applied in a way the AG’s office says it will.
Buy that man some more ammo!
This is a story that could have had a horrific ending. Instead, it has a just ending.
I feel for that lady: I only wish her emotional wounds could heal as quickly as her physical wounds.
By the way this is yet another example why I carry a handgun in my hip holster even when I am in my home or in my yard: you never know when a neighbor might be in serious jeopardy. (I am also armed at home because my neighbor across the street has two hyper-aggressive German shepherds that have already attacked one man and menaced multiple other people.)
Yes bravo indeed. Guns do save lives. Any man that would attack a woman with a hatchet is a no good piece of shit , in this case one less turd in the world.
damn, hope the woman’s ok. maybe she will get her OWN gun in the future. you are your own first responder.
.Hachet Bears aren’t normally aggressive, most times they flee at the sound of tinker bells tied to your backpack. This shooting could have been avoided.
Should have sprayed him with hot sauce.
Hatchet control now!
The mayor of London agrees with you.
+1
It’s ax owners like this who give all ax owners a bad name.
This was done by a member of a fringe group of Hatchet wielders so it’s not fair to consider Axe owners as the same. Paul Bunyan will have to make a statement to counter the fear now being felt in the Axe wielding community.
Should have been a defensive Creedmoor use.
Once again 911 is proven to be a slow 2nd to an armed citizen.
2ASUX was unavailable for comment.
2Asux would argue that it was the woman’s fault for venturing into the native territory of the majestic hatchet wielding maniac.
Hatchet wielders just acting like hatchet wielders would. Who are we to venture into their homes and shoot them.
Or trucks. Hatchet wielders can’t do their hatchet thing without a truck to be finding people to hatchet.
But, but, Paul Bunion was just turning his life around.
One would hope that this wasn’t a domestic disturbance case. Then the good samaritan might just find himself as the defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit brought about by the woman being assaulted. Such strange things happen a lot.
Was this a high power, high capacity axe? Did it have the shoulder thing that goes up? We need to establish a 40 person non-partisan commission funded with 50 million dollars to study the effects of such axes on society and create axe free school zones……….. Can you hear this coming out of many different politicians’ mouths? I can!
The neighbor that saved this lady sounds like a good guy to have in the neighborhood.