CA: Woman Fires Gun At Intruders: "A homeowner in Santa Paula fended off two intruders early Tuesday morning when she fired a shot at the men. It happened at 1:30 a.m. on the 13000 block of Telegraph Road. Police say the family's dog woke them, growling and barking inside the house. The homeowner walked down a hallway, armed with a handgun and confronted one suspect, who then challenged the homeowner. Police say the homeowner shot in self defense and the suspects ran. For several hours Ventura County Sheriff's Department and Santa Paula Police searched by air and ground for the suspects but were unable to locate them."


LA: Police say victim shot robbery suspect: "Police said a city man was shot and wounded Thursday night while trying to rob another at gunpoint near a Canal Boulevard convenience store. Police responding to a report of a man shot just after 8 p.m. found 34-year-old Lee Diggs of 534 St. Charles St. lying on the ground near the Turner Motel with gunshot wounds to the hip and stomach areas, Thibodaux Police Chief Craig Melancon said. Just after officers arrived, Melancon said, they were approached by Terrence Triggs of Schriever, who told them he believed he had shot a man who was trying to rob him through his truck's driver-side window. "He stated he had been robbed and in self-defense shot the individual who robbed him," Melancon said this morning. Triggs had called 911 to report the shooting. Diggs was taken to Thibodaux Regional Medical Center where he is under police guard, and will be booked at a later time for armed robbery, Melancon said. Melancon said officers are looking for an alleged accomplice to the robbery. A warrant has been issued for 33-year-old Antoine Baptiste of Thibodaux. Melancon said Baptiste approached Triggs, the robbery victim, inside the convenience store. Triggs, who had been celebrating his birthday, was wearing a large gold chain. Relatives and friends had pinned several $100 bills to it, and during the robbery, the money was taken, police said. After the shooting, Melancon said, Baptiste ran from the truck and went to the wounded Diggs' side, taking his pistol - described as a small-calibre weapon - and hiding it. The pistol was later found by police."


TX: Road rage killing: "One hour after revelers welcomed the new year in 2008, a motorist at a Northwest Side intersection fired three shots into 24-year-old Tomas Garza, moments after authorities said Garza threatened the motorist with a baseball bat in an apparent road-rage incident. The killing, the first of 137 recorded in San Antonio last year, was an act of self-defense, police later determined, and was classified by department officials as a justified homicide.


TX: Dog basher shot: "Among the justified homicides last year in San Antonio was the May killing of 50-year-old Jesse Carrion. It was just before 11:30 p.m. on a weekday when the owner of a home and small carpentry business on Roland Avenue heard someone in his backyard. He went outside and saw a man with a pipe beating his dog, according to a police report. The home and the back building with the tools had been burglarized in the past. The man with the pipe, identified as Carrion, advanced into the yard, where he was shot and killed by the homeowner, an act that authorities determined fell within the parameters of the castle doctrine".