The victim came out of her apartment, camera rolling, and captured one of her neighbors, gun drawn, holding an alleged car burglar in check.
“They found so much on him. He had a gun, other people’s phones. Money. He said, ‘I don’t live in this area, I was just walking home,’ but he had on a bulletproof vest.”
According to Des Moines police Sgt. Paul Parizek, the man had forced entry into an apartment in the 2500 block of Lincoln Avenue just after 12:30 a.m. Friday armed with a handgun.
Parizek said the man assaulted and threatened residents inside the apartment before being shot by one of the residents.
Police said some people tried to carjack a driver. The driver then shot at the would-be carjackers who ran away.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A man was shot to death Sunday morning at a
north Harris County apartment complex in what deputies say may have been
self defense.
It happened around 5 a.m. in the 2300 Bammelwood Drive near Kuykendahl.
Black Bear in Northern Wisconsin (Credit: Vanessa Wright)
With the 31 July fatal attack by a black bear near Swan Hills in Alberta, Canada, 2021 has tied the record for the number of fatal bear attacks in one year. From ctvnews.ca:
EDMONTON -- Mounties say a female tree planter was mauled to death by a bear in northern Alberta.
RCMP told CTV News they received a call just after 3 p.m. on July 31 regarding an attack in a rural area northwest of Swan Hills.
The 26-year-old woman was planting trees in the remote spot when she was attacked by what witnesses described to police as a black bear.
The attack appears to have been a predatory attack. Predatory attacks are the most easily defeated with handguns as there is often plenty of time to deploy a handgun at close range.
On 6 July, Leah Davis Lokan was attacked and killed by a grizzly bear in an unprovoked attack in her tent, in the town of Ovando, Montana. From spokesman.com:
The grizzly was killed near a chicken coop about 2 miles from the campsite where Leah Davis Lokan, 65, was attacked in her tent at a popular long-distance bicycle campsite in the small ranching community 50 miles west of Missoula along Highway 200. Lokan was from Chico, California, but used to work as a nurse in Sandpoint.
On 25 May, 2021, an unnamed woman was attacked an killed by a grizzly bear on her property near Water Valley, Alberta. From 660citynews.com:
WATER VALLEY, Alta. – One person is dead after what’s believed to be a bear attack northwest of Calgary.
Alberta Fish and Wildlife says in a Facebook post Mounties were called about the attack on private land near Water Valley, just off Highway 22, around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night.
Officials say the person had gone for a walk on their property and was found dead on one of the trails.
Traps have been set up in the area and a grizzly was seen with her cub in the vicinity.
The bear was exhibiting aggressive behaviour.
On 4 May, 2021, a grizzly bear killed David Lertzman in an unprovoked attack near Waiparous, Alberta. From mountgainviewtoday.com:
CANMORE – The wife of a 59-year-old former Canmore man killed in a bear attack in the Waiparous area last week says the bear attacked him from behind, sending him over a steep embankment to his death.
Alberta Fish and Wildlife officials suspect the bear involved was a mature female grizzly, but so far the bruin has evaded capture attempts.
On 30 April, 2021, Laney Malavolta was attacked and partly eaten by a black bear near Durango, Colorado. The attack was unprovoked. From denvercbslocal.com:
DURANGO, Colo. (CBS4)– The woman killed in a bear attack near Durango last week has been identified as Laney Malavolta. An autopsy for Malavolta, 39, from the La Plata County Coroner revealed that the cause of death is “perforating injury to neck.”
On 17 April, 2021, Charles Mock, a fishing guide, was killed in an unprovoked attack just outside of Yellowstone Park, in Gallatin County, Montana. Mock used bear spray, but it was ineffective. From a former article in AmmoLand:
On the afternoon of 15 April 2021, Carl Mock was attacked by a grizzly bear near Baker’s Hole Campground in Gallatin County, Montana. The campground is a few miles from the town of West Yellowstone, near an entrance to Yellowstone Park. Mock was able to dial 911. Several agencies responded to the call at about 3:42 p.m. The first responders were able to find Mock after about 50 minutes of searching.
There are five months left in 2021. Many fatal bear attacks occur in the fall, as the bears are desperate to layer on fat for hibernation.
The last year there were six fatal bear attacks in North America was 2005. 2021 will very likely break that record.
Of 66 fatal bear attacks in North America since 2000, 32, nearly half, occurred in August through the end of the year. The latest was a very rare attack on 26 November in the Yukon.
It is likely there well be one or more additional fatal bear attacks in North America this year.
Of the 66 fatal attacks, 31 were attacks by black bears, 2 were attacks by polar bears, and 33 were attacks by grizzly bears.
There are several people admitted to the hospital after a bear attack for each bear caused human fatality. There are probably several times that number who are not admitted, who fought off the bear or killed it without serious injury.
It is likely there are several dozen bear attacks for every fatality inflicted by bears.
Handguns remain as the most effective means of stopping bear attacks. This is because handguns are more likely to be carried on the person and accessible in more situations than long guns. Accessibility problems exist for all weapons used to stop bear attacks, whether bear spray, hand guns, long guns, or large knives.
When handguns are used, they are effective about 97% of the time.
Bruce Buckshot Hemming anticipated the increasing attacks in his book "Four Seconds to Impact". A review by this correspondent can be found here.
As bear populations continue to increase exponentially, they compete with humans for territory and food. Bear-human conflicts become more likely. Most of the time, the humans prevail. But as conflicts increase, the number of human fatalities mount as well.
©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Police say Ziegan then told the homeowner, “I have your gun,” pulled it from his waistband and handed it to him.
That’s when the homeowner called 911 and held Ziegan at gunpoint until police were there, according to the release.
After an investigation, police say they found out that Ziegan had gone through every room of the house and took money and a shirt, which he was wearing, from the homeowner.
Investigators say the two men had been arguing, though it's not clear
over what. There was a physical altercation and, ultimately, the retired
officer shot the neighbor.
The victim was shot in the stomach.
He was taken to a hospital. The father of the man shot said his son
underwent a three-and-a-half hour surgery on Sunday and then had a
second surgery on Monday.
Prior to the incident, one neighbor told ABC13, the adult son rang her door bell and later exhibited unusual behavior.
GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – The man that ended up getting shot by a homeowner after he tried to break into a residence has been identified.
According to the Green Bay Police Department, has been identified as a 31-year-old man from the Green Bay area. Charges for the suspect are expected to be sent to the District Attorney’s office once the investigation is complete.
July 2021 was the second highest total July for National Instant background Check System (NICS) checks on record. The highest was in July of 2020. The number of checks done in July of 2021 was 2,860,476. The number in July of 2020 was 3,639,224.
July 2021 was also the second highest July for gun sales on record, with the highest having been last year, July of 2020, as well. The July, 2021 gun sales were 1.84 million. The calculation of the number is approximate, consisting of handgun checks +
Long guns checks + Other guns checks + 2.5 x multiple sales on 1 check =
1.84 million gun sales in July, 2020. The percentage of gun sales of all NICS checks for the month was 51%.
For July of 2021, using the same formula, the number of gun sales was 1.25 million. The percentage of gun sales of all NICS checks was only 44%.
For July of 2016, the number of gun sales was 1.22 million, slightly less. The percentage of checks used for gun sales was 48%.
The major culprit in de-linking background checks from gun sales is the use of the checks for numerous other purposes, especially for carry permits and carry permit rechecks. The FBI does not charge states to run NICS checks, so Illinois and Kentucky run hundreds of thousands of re-checks on carry permits every month.
Demand for guns and ammunition is still very high, as noted by the numbers. However, the demand has dropped off the record shattering levels experienced in 2020. With over a year of record breaking demand, firearm producers responded.
Guns were flying out of manufacturers hands and into citizens hands. Ammunition was being sold long before it reached retail shelves. The demand was high and the prices were as well. Such levels of demand cannot be sustained.
In June of 2021, it was clear the demand had dropped. Manufacturers were meeting the demand. Ammunition and firearms were both appearing back in retail stores. Prices were dropping.
The number of firearms added to the private stock in 2020 was about 21 million.
The number of firearms added to the private stock through July of 2021, has been about 11 million.
That puts the total number of private firearms in the United States at 475 million at the end of July.
It is an enormous number, 167 million new guns have been added to the private stock since the election of Barack Obama in 2008.
There may be a trillion rounds of ammunition stockpiled in private hands in the United States. That would be about 12 years of production and import. It would only be a little more than 200 rounds for each gun in private hands. It is nearly impossible to determine how much ammunition is stored in private hands. To do so, it would be necessary to include the components for making ammunition by people who reload cartridges.
Perhaps it would be necessary to determine those who cast their own bullets, produce their own gunpowder, recharge their own primers and percussion caps.
All of those things are being done by hundreds, thousands, millions of people in the United States.
©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
KENDALE LAKES, Fla. – Christopher Luis defended himself from three armed robbers in February in Miami-Dade County. He suffered gunshot wounds to his left bicep and right hand and doctors treated him at the Kendall Regional Medical Center, police said.
Surveillance videos show Luis shot a gun-wielding 16-year-old boy, disarmed him, and returned to fatally shoot him as he bled on the ground on Feb. 13 in Kendale Lakes, police said. Prosecutors cleared Luis of murder and manslaughter charges and charged him with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, according to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.
FARGO — Prosecutors filed a misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment Wednesday, Aug. 4, in Cass County District Court against a Fargo pawn shop worker who fired a gun at a fleeing robbery suspect's vehicle in June.
Police say a 22-year-old female shot the man in the head when he tried to break into her downstairs residence. The alleged burglar was later identified as the building's upstairs resident. His name has not been released.
Image screenshot of public announcement by Kim Gardner, Circuit Attorney
On 30 July, 2021, Governor Mike Parson granted pardons to Mark and Patrica McCloskey, along with 10 other people. The McCloskeys had defended their home from an angry mob of political protestors. From the office of Communication of Missouri Governor Michael L. Parson:
On Friday, July 30, 2021, Governor Mike Parson granted 12 pardons and approved two commutations pursuant to Article IV, Section 7 of the Constitution of the State of Missouri. Official documents have been filed with the appropriate government agencies and are being sent to the individuals.
Pardons:
1) Phillip Vancil
2) Roy Middleton
3) Travis Gilliland
4) Dennis Hargiss
5) Linda Floyd
6) Marlo Finner
7) Kenneth Callahan
8) John Biggs
9) Randy Huggins
10) Jeremy Murray
11) Mark McCloskey
12) Patricia McCloskey
Commutations:
1) Matthew Carrell
2) Deitra Cole
Mark and Patricia McCloskey became famous when an angry mob of demonstrators were directed into their private neighborhood by demonstration organizers. The couple were terrifically outnumbered. Both sides had weapons. The demonstrators yelled threats; the couple pointed firearms in the direction of the demonstators. A gate to the complex was destroyed in the process.
Far Left prosecutor Kim Gardner, a supporter of Black Lives Matter, who organized the protest, charged Mark and Patricia McCloskey with "Unlawful use of Weapons".
The charge, which flied in the face of the video evidence, ignited sympathy for Pat and Mark. Kim Gardner, whose official title is St. Louis Circuit Attorney, used the prosecution as part of her bid for re-election. There were additional charges of evidence tampering, although the tampering seems to have been on the orders of the prosecutors office.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt called for the dismissal of the charges.
Missouri Governor Mike Parson said he would pardon the couple.
Evidence surfaced of political pressure by Kim Gardner's prosecutor office to prosecute the McCloskeys.
As a result, combined with effective legal maneuvers by the McCloskeys, Kim Gardner and her entire office were removed from the case.
The case was handed over to special prosecutor Richard C. Callahan. Callahan was not unbiased. He had been appointed by President Barack Obama as a U.S. Attorney. He is reported to be a longtime ally of former Senator Claire McCaskill (D) MO.
Callahan looked at the case and knew he was unlikely to get a conviction on the firearms charges. He wanted a conviction, but his highest priority was to confiscate the couple's firearms as a symbolic victory.
Callahan combed through the law and found a charge which would be very difficult to defend against. Then he negotiated a reasonably favorable plea deal with the McCloskeys, so he could declare victory. The plea deal included pleading guilty to a minor misdemeanor and surrendering a Bryco 38 pistol and an ordinary AR-15. Mark McCloskey immediately purchased a replacement AR-15 type rifle.
There is a serious problem in the criminal justice system when a special prosecutor openly says his highest priority is a symbolic, political, victory.
Governor Parson was reported to have said he would pardon the McCloskeys on 19 July, 2020.
A little over a year later, on 30 July, 2021, he kept his promise.
©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Police say the homeowner chased them from his home, while armed with a handgun, and fired a shot over them, the complaint states.
Authorities say the four suspects fled the scene in a white Chevy sedan, resulting in a chase with police that later ended in the Moxham-section of Johnstown.
Police say five individuals fled the vehicle, two of which were taken into custody on Sunday.
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. — A couple suffered extensive injuries after they were attacked by their pet dog in their own backyard, but a quick-thinking neighbor was able stop the attack and save the owners by shooting the dog, police say.
The incident unfolded Wednesday at around 7:15 a.m., when police received multiple calls about a disturbance in the backyard of an apartment at Jenna Village on Aster Street in Springfield, Ore..
Police and medics responded to the scene, where they learned that a dog had viciously attacked its owners. They also discovered that during the attack, a neighbor shot the dog with a small caliber gun in an effort to save the couple.
PLEASANT HILL (CBS SF) — A man who was behaving erratically was shot and killed Tuesday evening after entering a home, according to Pleasant Hill police.
It happened at about 5:45 p.m. on Shadow Mountain Court near Camelback Road. Several 911 callers reported a suspect was vandalizing parked cars and trying to get inside homes, according to police.
Image screenshot from 5newsonline.com video, cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten. Rifle believed to have been used to stop the murder.
The man who shot and killed Zachary Brian Arnold on 15 May of 2021, in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Wallace A. West, was justified in the shooting, according to Sebastian County Prosecutor Dan Shue. The incident was covered by AmmoLand previously.
More facts about the incident have been revealed. Wallace fired two shots, not one, as previously assumed. He missed the first shot. It was revealed Arnold had fired 93 shots when he was shot and killed by West. From nwaonline.com:
West, identified in the Police Department news release Wednesday as an off-duty employee of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, woke to the sound of gunshots, Shue wrote. He ran outside and saw Arnold shooting into Hicks’ apartment.
West then grabbed a bolt action rifle, which was scoped and loaded, from his gun cabinet, stepped onto his balcony and fired once at Arnold, missing him because he was “shaking so badly,” according to his witness statement.
Arnold turned and fired several rounds at West.
Arnold went back into his apartment, presumably to reload, and he came back outside, Shue wrote. He began walking down the complex, rifle in hand, according to West. West took a second shot, which struck Arnold in the head and killed him.
The article reports that West was an "off-duty employee of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security". It is unclear if West was a sworn officer or other employee. The Department of Homeland Security employs a great many people, about 240,000. It is unclear how many are sworn officers, probably less than half.
West was acting as an armed Samaritan when he shot Arnold, who had become mentally unbalanced. Arnold had previously served in Afghanistan, and suffered from PTSD. This was a tragedy for both families.
When a sheepdog goes rabid, to use the popular analogy, they have to be put down.
That seems to be the unfortunate case with Arnold. An armed Samaritan was willing to step up and do what was necessary, under fire. We owe Wallace A. West a debt. It is highly likely he stopped more unnecessary killing.
This correspondent prefers the term armed Samaritan to sheepdog, because it implies a Christian duty to defend the innocent. An excellent book on the subject was reviewed on AmmoLand in 2017. The moral implications are for all people. In the Samaritan story, the Samaritan was not a Christian. He was not even considered Jewish by the local elites in Jerusalem.
It remains to be seen if the FBI will include this incident as a mass murder stopped by an armed member of the public (citizen engagement, in FBI parlance). There is reason to doubt they will.
Researcher John Lott examined the FBI classification of various active shooter incidents. When Jack Wilson stopped the attacker after two members of the West Freeway Church of Christ were murdered in White Settlement Texas, it was not listed as a case of "citizen engagement" by the FBI. The FBI claimed this was not "citizen engagement", because Jack Wilson was a voluntary member of the church security team. Therefore, according to the FBI, it was not "citizen engagement", but law enforcement/security.
Lott makes the case the FBI has a bias toward minimizing the importance of armed Samaritans in stopping active shooters.
©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — A man was shot and killed after deputies said he assaulted his girlfriend at their apartment in north Harris County.
This happened at an apartment complex in the 2330 block of Bammelwood near Kuykendahl.
Deputies said the woman reported her 27-year-old boyfriend assaulted her and then pulled out a gun. The two wrestled over the gun before the gun went off, deputies said.
Image of grizzly bear by Troy Nemitz, used with permission.
As part of AmmoLand's investigative journalism, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request revealed this bear attack which happened in Wyoming, in 2010.
On 14 August, 2010, in the Union Pass area, on Forest Service Road 693 near Fish Creek in west central Wyoming, a family group was camping. One of the children reported they had seen a dead calf near the creek.
Two members of the group armed themselves to investigate. The creek was about 200 yards from the campsite. They were unsure if the calf were dead or merely sleeping. If the calf were dead, they would need to keep the children, who wanted to go fishing, away from the creek, because of the danger of bears in the area. They approached the creek about 8:15 a.m.
As the two people walked down the road toward the creek, there appeared a slight gap in the trees on their right as they approached the creek. One of them said that "looked like a good place for bears", just before a grizzly erupted from the woods, coming at them at "90 miles an hour".
The person in the lead shouldered his Savage 99, chambered in .308, loaded with five rounds of reloads with 150 grain Game King bullets. The bear appeared only 15 feet from them. At 8-10 feet, he fired. The bear stumbled and went down, slightly to his right, at the edge of the road. As the bear started to get up, he fired a second shot and his partner opened up with the .41 magnum. The .41 magnum was loaded with reloads and lead bullets. Both people emptied their firearms at the bear, five shots with the Savage and five shots with the Taurus. The bear managed to crawl a few feet away, and collapse next to a pine tree.
The shooters did not have any extra ammunition with them. The bear was still moving when they left. They went back to their camp. About 45 minutes later, they returned in a pickup truck to make sure the bear was dead.
The bear appeared dead. They got out of the truck to investigate. They saw a dead calf beyond the dead bear, near the creek. Nearby was a cow, presumably the mother of the calf.
Then more bears appeared, a sow with two cubs. The owner of the Taurus revolver had exchanged it for a camera. The one with the Savage rifle yelled and raised his rifle, and the bears retreated. When the bears appeared, the cow took off running.
The shooters got back into the truck. They traveled to the Forest Service guard station and reported the incident.
When the field necropsy was done on the bear, it was discovered the bear was hit three times with .308 caliber bullets. The bear was a boar, approximately 18 years old, and had an unreadable lip tattoo. Ear tags had been attached, but had been torn out long before the shooting. The history of the bear could not be determined.
The investigation determined the calf had been killed by wolves, but then fed on by grizzly bears. The information was forwarded to the U.S. Attorney's office for Wyoming.
On 6 December, 2010, the United States Attorney's office, District of Wyoming, declined prosecution.
©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
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