“A family was asleep early Tuesday morning, when a man high on drugs kicked in their front door and made his way inside,” kfor.com reports. “‘He was in our hallway going toward our room when our husband ran out,’ a scared wife says on the phone with 911 dispatchers. Three children were home at the time.” But so was dad . . .
The army veteran grabbed his handgun on the way out and forced the intruder out of the house at gunpoint.
“Get down on the ground. Get down on the (expletive) ground,” the homeowner yelled during the 911 call . . .
Little did the family know, Newcastle Police and Grady County Sheriffs were already on their way responding to Thrash trying to break into another home.
“He had tried apparently to get into the back door of a lady`s house one block over and she heard the commotion,” Grady County Sheriff Jim Weir said.
Thrash wasn’t trying to steal from anyone. He was high on drugs.
Oh so that’s alright then. Wait. No. But here’s what is alright: an armed American defending his home by force of arms. And another thing: TTAG tipster Cubbie’s strategic takeaway (based on police bodycam footage that somehow disappeared).
Tip: tell dispatch you’ve got a gun and are holding the suspect and make sure they relay that to officers. The body cam footage makes it clear the officer didn’t know who was who initially and ordered the homeowner to disarm.
Anyway the right result.
Great result to be sure. Obviously a well trained individual who assessed the scene/threat and showed appropriate restraint. Judging solely from this report, I guess we could quibble about tactical decisions but hey, all is well that ends well.
“Thrash wasn’t trying to steal from anyone. He was high on drugs.”
Bullpuckey.
Agreed. Being a thief and being a crackhead are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they tend to go hand-in-hand.
Crackhead is lucky to not have a new orifice.
“Thrash wasn’t trying to steal from anyone. He was high on drugs.”
Stealing or not, high on drugs and with a stupid name is no way to go through life.
“Son… fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life”
Wow. Two bleeding heart anecdotes in one day. I can honestly say that I am both impressed and disappointed by the man’s restraint. Then again, the perp was alone and retreated out of the home. Obviously this particular vet puts a much higher value on crackhead life than I do.
It’s only ‘restraint’ if you WANT to kill someone. Most people don’t.
If someone has used force to enter my home, I’m pulling the trigger. No warnings or verbal directives will be given. I feel like that’s fair.
According to the legal code in Oklahoma, that’s more than fair.
Under current law in Oklahoma, shooting someone you’ve pulled a gun on is actively encouraged.
Shooting someone in your home is pure castle doctrine.
Detaining someone in your home with a gun can be felony brandishing.
The legislature and governor passed and signed a revision on May 15, but it does not go into effect until Nov 1. So, technically, this dude could be charged with felony brandishing for NOT shooting the guy who broke into his house.
The legality of the issue is only the first step. I wish I had time at the moment to go into this further with you. There is much that you are not considering. You may well arrive at the same conclusion after full consideration, but you don’t know that now. You don’t know what you don’t know, which can result in some unfortunate decisions.
This.
What AZgunner said:
Save a life at every chance possible but if there is a threat to ur life or the life of the ones u love, do not hesitate. If the drug induced fool will cooperate then we are all good but if he doesn’t then I have some cleaning to do. The police are my friend only when the know who the bad guy/good guy are. It’s our job to inform without creating a liability for ourselves. That in itself is a tightrope. Again with any defensive gun use STFU and lawyer up. Rather give a shady hack 10k than lose my civil liberties to a 50k a year out to prove something prosecutor. Imho of course.
I want to see the body camera footage!
Kudos to the homeowner for handling the situation well. Gotta criticize him a little bit though for not having a stronger deadbolt/front door. Far better to keep the dirtbags out of your house in the first place than to clean up the mess if they get in. I’d be curious to see a picture of the damage to his front door, if it had a reinforced deadbolt or not.
Depends on if he owns the house or is renting. If you’re renting, you may not be able to get permission for those kind of modifications.
“‘He was in our hallway going toward our room when our husband ran out”. I only have one wife. What am I doing wrong?
You would seriously want another one? WTF is wrong with you?
That very thought entered my mind as soon as my post became uneditable. One is definitely one too many…
At a young age I knew the Bible had contradictions.
After all:
King Solomon was the wisest man on earth.
King Solomon had 1,000 wives.
Nope, both of those statements can’t be true.
Great way to do it if you can. Kids have no reason to see a killing.
Every homeowner needs to take note of this. A wasted junkie was able to kick open the door to this
home. That should simply NOT BE POSSIBLE if a home is secured properly. Yes…it takes a bit of
work and some $$$ but every door into your home needs to be made of solid wood or steel covered.
ALL the screws on the hinges need to be replaced with LONGER ones and the hardware and door jamb
armored to prevent the wood from splintering. EVERYTHING one needs to successfully make an entry
door truly secure is available on line and at most home improvement stores. You can even buy special film
to apply to windows around entryways to keep the glass from being smashed through. It should require an
entire team of men, heavy tools and several minutes for someone to gain access through a door into your home.
And that several minutes gives you time to verify identities of who is there and if necessary prepare to meet
the invaders appropriately.
Sorry, you should address your own situation and not presume to know everyone else’s. I am not an operational operator as you clearly are, so I am not the target of repeated attacks by trained assault teams. As a result, I have around 20 doors (never really counted) on 3 floors, and all are mostly glass. A rock will get you past all those “improvements” to the hinges you suggest with the expenditure of one (1) rock, which can be found in the yard. Have never had a problem in over 20 years, when and if I do have a problem, I plan to shoot it, probably several times. Not all of us live in Iraq.
Every apartment each of our daughters ever lived in, I replaced the strike plate with a longer one, mortised Into the wood, with four inch screws . I’ve also put up house numbers on one side of a side by side the oldest lived in . As well as putting window stops on some , fake cameras , alarm system stickers and trimming over hanging brush in the parking lot .
Also extra smoke and co det .
My thoughts are the landlord is lucky I don’t bill him ….
this story cannot be true, because liberals tell us that the “good guy with a gun” is a myth…
He wasn’t so high he couldn’t understand verbal instructions and a firearm pointed at his head.
What is with Oklahoma?
First the kid shoots three home invaders with 2 shots from an AR, now a homeowner apprehended a crackhead
Is this normal for that state?
But but he was a good boy who just stepped into the wrong house. S/