Thursday, February 09, 2006



Indiana: Elderly man acted in self-defense, likely no charges will be filed: Neighbors react to the stabbing of an elderly South Bend man, attacked in his own home Sunday morning. But police say that elderly man shot his attacker to death and their investigation isn't over yet. The crime tape still remains at the home on Brookfield Street. The investigation is far from over, but at this point the county prosecutor does not believe charges will be filed against the 79-year-old man who shot his attacker. "I been knowing him for about five years. He's the best neighbor I have ever had,� said Markitta Sanders. Sanders lives next store to Don VanDusen, a 79-year-old man who fought in WWII and earned the honors of the Purple Heart. "He had everything, this man got everything, this man got tools, a boat, everything,� said Sanders. Which could be why another [black] neighbor 29-year-old Phoenix Coalmon tried robbing VanDusen early Sunday morning, an attempt that cost Coalmon his life. "He had been shot two times,� said Tim Corbett, Commander of St. Joseph County Metro Homicide. Police believe VanDusen shot Coalmon during the attempted robbery, but not before neighbors say Coalmon stabbed the elderly man several times.... Coalman was just released from the county jail on Saturday, after serving time for habitual traffic violations. Less than 24 hours later he apparently tried to rob his neighbor."


MI: Not just guns -- thugs with guns: "Police Chief Gerald H. Cliff advised Saginaw City Council members Monday against buying citizen's guns to thwart violence, saying buybacks didn't get the types of high-powered weapons used by gangs off the streets.Cliff's straightforward evaluation of gun buy-backs was right on target. Gun buy-back initiatives, in which officials purchase guns from citizens, ostensibly to keep them out of the hands of criminals, aren't effective. A handful of studies since the 1990s, when the federal government gave cities cash to buy guns, show they tend to lure law-abiding citizens to bring in small caliber guns. More importantly, Cliff said the studies indicate buying "closet guns" doesn't have a measurable impact on reducing violence. "

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