Armed Citizen in New York


WGRZ, December 15, 2004:
Police say it appears to be a straightforward case of self-defense that ended with a robber fighting for his life. Investigators say two armed robbers busted into the side door of a home on Best Street in Buffalo’s east side. The homeowner was eating dinner at his kitchen table. Turns out he also had a gun and fired at the two men. Police say he struck at least one of them. The robbers ran out of the house and the man who was shot collapsed around the corner on Meyers Street. He was taken to Erie County Medical Center where he is in critical condition. The other robber escaped. Police say the homeowner probably will not be charged. For one, he is a licensed gun owner, and second, it appears he did nothing wrong. “If someone came into my house with a gun, I would have done the same thing as him,” said Sgt. Jim Lonergan of the Buffalo Police Department. Relatives of the homeowner say he bought a gun because his home has been robbed and vandalized several times in the last few months. He also walks with a cane. That may make him an easy target. The homeowner escaped the robbery without a scratch.

Democrat & Chronicle, December 6, 2004:
A Rochester man used justifiable force when he fatally shot another man early Sunday during a front yard fistfight in Webster, police said. Donald Krahling was being badly beaten by Jeffrey Morrison, when he pulled out a concealed handgun and fired one shot into Morrison’s chest. Police said the shooting appears justified because Morrison was overwhelming the smaller Krahling, who walks with a limp after being injured in the military years ago. Krahling had properly registered the .25-caliber gun, said Lt. Salvatore Simonetti.”There is evidence to substantiate his self-defense story,” Simonetti said.

Post-Standard, November 11, 2004:
Steven Brown has been robbed before. This time, he was ready. Brown, who owns a Syracuse gas station and convenience store, shot a man who tried to rob him early Wednesday morning, city police Sgt. Tom Connellan said.  About 4 a.m. Wednesday, a man came to the door and buzzed to be let in. Brown unlocked the door and Elwood L. Powell came in.  “He tried to bum-rush Mr. Brown,” Connellan said. “He had every right to protect himself and his property.”  Brown reached behind the counter, pulled out a loaded 16-gauge automatic shotgun and pointed it at Powell.  “Mr. Brown felt threatened; that person was running at him,” Connellan said.  Powell grabbed the barrel of the rifle, trying to get Brown to drop it, but Brown fired one shot. The slug went through one of Powell’s legs and lodged into the calf of the other leg, causing him to stumble. That bought Brown enough time to dash into his office and lock the door, police said.  Brown watched the security camera monitor and saw Powell stand up, go behind the counter and try to get into the cash register.  When that didn’t work, Powell grabbed packages of cigarettes and reeled out the door, police said.  Near the gas pumps, he fell, and this time he didn’t get back up.  City police arrived and found Powell in the parking lot.  He was taken to University Hospital, where he was in fair condition Wednesday.

Star-Gazette, November 11, 2004:
A Corning man was critically injured early Wednesday when he was shot while burglarizing a home in Bradford County, state police said.  State police said they were called shortly after 2:00am to a home on State Line Road in Windham Township, where the 39-year-old homeowner told police he discovered Chad Patterson, 25, in his home.  Police said the homeowner told them he was awakened by Patterson, and after a confrontation, shot him while he was still in the home.

Daily Freeman, August 19, 2004: A 3-year-old black bear that had been repeatedly harassing a Highmount woman and entering her home was shot dead Tuesday by the woman’s uncle when the bear entered the home again after the two sat down to dinner.  Robert Grennie said the bear had chased his niece, Candice Backstrom, inside from gardening four times and had entered her Rolling Brook Road home on several occasions, destroying an aluminum sliding door, freezer, and about $125 worth of food.  “Her life was in danger,” Grennie said.  Grennie said he shot the male bear around 7:00pm Tuesday.  he said the bear broke into the kitchen through a screen door and looked like it was rising up to claw at him when he shot it from three feet away with a 12-guage shotgun slug.  While it was technically illegal to shoot a bear out of season unless it is attacking a beehive or livestock, Department of Environmental Conservation Police Lt. Deming Lindsley said the 80-year old Big Indian man was within reason to destroy the bear that he said was forcing his niece to be a prisoner in her own home.  “You have a right to defend your property,” said Lindsley.  “I don’t want to have to wait ’till I see claw marks on an individual.”

Newsday, August 16, 2004: An adult video store clerk shot a robber in the arm, then himself in the hand, while fending off an assailant.  John McMurry was working at the store on Jericho Turnpike at about 4:30pm when a man armed with a metal pipe arrived, police spokesman Officer Sonny DiStefano said.  McMurry, 67, of Bohemia, gave the man, Stanly Hagzan, 50, of 29 Johnson Ave. in Kings Park, some cash.  Hagzan then tied up McMurry.  The clerk was soon able to free himself and then reached for his licensed revolver and shot Hagzan.  McMurry told police he wasn’t sure if he had hit him, and that Hagzan fled in a vehicle.  McMurry, who accidentally shot himself in the hand, was taken to St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown, where he was treated and released.  Meanwhile, someone drove Hagzan to the same hospital, where officials contacted police saying that they were treating someone with a gunshot wound to his right arm.  Police arrested Hagzan after McMurry identified him as the robber.  Hagzan was charged with first-degree robbery.  DiStefano said there would be no charged against McMurry because he was acting in self-defense.

WORK, July 28, 2004: A man was shot and killed by a relative as he tried to break into a home in West Hill Estates in Greece around 10:30am Saturday.  Police said the homeowner shot and killed Russell Thurston, 43, with a long gun before he was fully enter the home.  Police said Thurston violated an order of protection filed on July 6 to stay away from the family and the home.  Police won’t say what led to the initial court order, but investigators say the homeowner was afraid.  At this point, Greece Police and the Monroe County District Attorney Mike Green believe the shooting was justified.  Green said, “The law on justification does provide that if you reasonably believe that someone is committing or attempting to commit a burglary on your house, [then] you are justified to use deadly physical force to stop or terminate that burglary.”