Indiana shooter says he acted in self-defense: "The man accused of shooting a fellow worker Monday evening at a local horse-training facility says he acted in self-defense. Charles Wolcott, 51, was upgraded Tuesday evening from critical to serious-but-stable condition after being shot in the stomach by 56-year-old Richard Velas. Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson said Velas has not been arrested or charged with a crime, and Floyd County Sheriff Darrell Mills said it's possible the shooting was provoked when Wolcott allegedly attacked Velas with a hammer. Police say the shooting occurred about 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Glenwood Training Center along Ind. 111 near the Clark-Floyd county line. Velas was reportedly living at a residence on the property while Wolcott - whose permanent address is Bennettsville Road in Borden - was temporarily living with his girlfriend in a home adjacent to the facility. Velas allegedly fired two shots at Wolcott from a rare .36 caliber black-powder six-shot revolver, a gun Mills said police "weren't really used to dealing with." A friend of Velas' - who declined to give his name but was caring for two of his own horses at Glenwood Tuesday afternoon - said Velas "felt really bad" about the shooting and described him as a "passive man who avoided confrontation."


Statue spooks British cops: "A terrified dad was held by police for 13 hours after they mistook a dummy of Lara Croft for a gunman. Computer games fan David Williams, 42, was arrested when armed cops swooped on his home late at night. He was pinned to the ground, handcuffed and quizzed - after officers spotted his life-sized model of the gun-toting Tomb Raider star, reports The Sun. David, from Dukinfield, Greater Manchester said: "I can't believe the police could be so stupid." He had called cops, about nuisance phone calls he'd received, but when two officers arrived, one saw the limited edition 6ft statue, worth 1,000 pounds, standing in the darkness of his living room window. Fearing it was an armed crook, the officers called in support - and David was held at gunpoint. David, who runs a computer games store, said: "The back-up cops burst in through the back door and knocked me to the ground. One jabbed a gun in the back of my neck and said, 'All right - where's the gun?' "I said, 'I don't have one'. They weren't happy and searched the house. "They must have soon realised what had happened because the PC who called for help was getting a lot of stick."


More British keystone cops: "Armed police chased gunmen along a motorway and cornered them in a supermarket car park - only to find two teenage girls in fancy dress with a toy pistol. Holly Spedding and Fatima Rupp, both 19, stopped their car to find themselves surrounded by police marksmen pointing guns at them and screaming: "Put your hands up!" The girls, dressed as cowgirls, cowered in fear as two helicopters hovered overhead and van loads of police dogs snarled at them. Holly and Fatima, who were locked up for hours before they were finally released, told how they had been returning from a Cowboys and Indians night at Chester University. As they headed home to Harrogate, North Yorkshire, along the M62 they joked with passing lorry drivers who spotted Fatima's cowboy hat. She said: "The lorry drivers were pretending to shoot me with their fingers. So I pointed the toy gun back at them. Everyone was smiling and laughing." But an off-duty police officer had spotted the girls and reported them for threatening motorists. Holly, who was driving, and Fatima realised something was wrong when they noticed a half a dozen police cars on their tail. Holly said: "We were petrified when we stopped and they came screeching up and surrounded us. "There were four jeeps, two vans full of dogs, armed police, helicopters and they were screaming: 'Where's the gun?'"