NY: Young black killed trying to rob off-duty officer: "Fifteen-year-old Kelvin Rodolph picked the wrong person to rob. The emotionally disturbed teen walked up to off-duty Buffalo Police Officer Lamar McCulley and demanded his valuables in the predawn hours of Friday outside an East Side gas station-minimart. When the officer failed to respond quickly enough, Rodolph raised what appeared to be a semi-automatic handgun inches from McCulley's face and again said, "Give me everything you have." "At that point, the officer did give him everything he had at the end of a 9 mm Glock," PBA attorney Thomas Burton said late Friday in providing details of why he believes McCulley acted in self-defense. It turned out the weapon Rodolph pointed at the officer was a BB gun, but Burton said, "At the moment it happened, it might as well have been a cannon." McCulley told a close friend he was not trying to kill the teenager, but only protecting himself. Burton said, "As the officer discharged a fusillade of shots," he backed away and tripped over garbage cans, regained his footing and saw that Rodolph was still pointing the gun at him "and so the officer fired again." One of the shots struck Rodolph in the face and killed him... McCulley had completed his night shift in the South District at 1:30 a. m. and had gone out to purchase food. He was wearing a jacket over his uniform when the teenager walked up to him, police said."


CT: Guy who shot at cops freed: "It was dark. A gang of men, dressed like thugs, carrying guns, were inside. John Bell, a 55-year-old truck driver from Stratford, thought Buzz's Mobil Station on Bridgeport's East Main Street, where he worked a second job, was being robbed. So he pulled his gun. More than 17 shots were fired. And Bell, who was shot twice, was convicted last summer by a federal court jury of attempting to kill Trumbull Police Detective Scott Murray, a member of the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, when he fired on Murray, missing both his shots. All that was too much for Senior U.S. District Judge Alfred V. Covello, who on Friday overturned Bell's June conviction on three federal charges that could have landed him in prison for at least 10 years. "It is apparent that this event would never have occurred but for the task force's imprudent decision to allow no less than nine officers, eight of whom were clad in casual, thug-like street clothing, to descend upon Buzz's in Bridgeport, at night, at closing time with guns drawn," Covello wrote. "Members of the task force had conducted surveillance on the property earlier that day, and were aware that only two employees were on the premises, neither of whom were the subject of the alleged gambling investigation."


Utah home invader survives and goes to jail: "A 50-year-old man shot in September while allegedly breaking into a West Valley City home to confront his romantic rival was released from the hospital and booked into jail Thursday. Robert Wayne Hunter had been hospitalized for 12-gauge-shotgun wounds in his chest and arm, which he suffered during the Sept. 17 incident. West Valley police say Hunter used two loaded handguns to shoot out a sliding-glass door and enter a home near 3700 South and 6000 West, where his estranged wife had been living with another man since July. Before the break-in, Hunter had sent the woman threatening text messages and had told the other man's co-workers he wanted to harm him, according to investigators. The woman hid in the garage while the man, who said he feared for his life, shot Hunter, police said. Hunter then ran to his truck, which was parked a block away, police said, while a neighbor called police. Hunter was located and flown to University Hospital in critical condition, but was later upgraded to stable condition and was released on Thursday after a month-long recovery in the hospital. The shooter was taken into custody but later released, and the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office declined to file charges against him, saying his actions were justified under Utah's self-defense statute". [Update from story blogged here on Sept. 20]


Malaysian businessman shoots robber in self defense: "A Malaysian textile businessman shot a robber in the foot during a robbery attempt at his store, news reports said Sunday, dpa reported. The suspect and his four accomplices entered the textile store in the capital Kuala Lumpur on Saturday with machetes and axes demanding cash. The owner of the store reached for his pump gun and fired two shots in their direction. One of the robbers was said to have been shot at after he allegedly attacked the owner with an axe, while the others managed to flee the scene on their motorcycles, the Star daily reported. City police chief, Ku Chin Wah confirmed the incident and that the police believed another robber could also have been shot."