Police: Woman Shot Intruder 9 Times In Self Defense

5-13-2011 Georgia:

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — An intruder who was shot and killed after a confrontation with a Duluth woman in her shower was likely stalking her for days and may have other victims, Gwinnett police said.

Police: Woman Shot Intruder 9 Times In Self Defense School Counselor Shoots, Kills Home Intruder

The 53-year-old woman, who is also a veteran private school counselor, was alone at the time of the Wednesday morning attack. She lives on East Mount Tabor Circle in Duluth.

The woman was getting out of the shower when she was met by a strange man with a kitchen knife, police said. They said there was a struggle in the bathroom, and she fell in the tub. Police later identified the man as Israel Perez Puentes, a Cuban national who lived in Alpharetta.

"The male was armed with a kitchen knife, a struggle ensued between the two of them. She fell in the bathtub injuring herself," Gwinnett police spokesman Edwin Ritter said.

The woman tried to fight the man off with a shower a rod, and he forced her into her bedroom, police said. They said she told her attacker she had money in the room. But she grabbed a .22-caliber handgun and shot the man nine times, police said.

Police said the man ran out of a back door and collapsed in the yard. He later died at the Gwinnett Medical Center. The victim, who was injured in the scuffle, was also taken to the hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. Police have not released her name.

Police told Channel 2's Kerry Kavanaugh they don't know why the woman was targeted.

"He may have seen her somewhere and he identified her as being a potential victim and he basically stalked her until he found the right moment to act on it," said Ritter.

"Our department is looking into any other cases around metro Atlanta area as well as our jurisdiction to see if he may be involved with any other sexual assaults that may have occurred."

Dan Tucker, a friend and neighbor, said he was amazed at how the victim defended herself against the armed intruder.

"She's smart, she's witty and obviously well prepared," Tucker said.

Ritter said the shooting investigation was ongoing but defended the victim, saying the shooting appeared to be justified, and that she acted in self-defense. He said there are no plans to charge her.

Police said Thursday that neighbors had spotted Puentes' car in the neighborhood several days before the attack but did not report it. Puentes' estranged wife told Kavanaugh he had been arrested for burglary in Johns Creek in December. ..Source.. by WSBTV.com

Alleged armed robber killed by Okauchee homeowner

8-28-2011 Wisconsin:

OKAUCHEE - Police say an Okauchee homeowner shot and killed a man he claims broke into his house.

It happened around 2:00 a.m. Saturday on Wisconsin Ave.

The crime scene tape around his Okauchee home is gone but the memories of early Saturday morning are fresh and hard for Mike Fitzsimmons.

"I’m happy that I'm alive today,” Fitzsimmons told TMJ4 reporter Keller Russell.

He says he was asleep inside his home when he heard someone breaking in. He grabbed his flashlight and a gun.

"I confronted the guy and he told me he had a gun. He came at me with a gun,” said Fitzsimmons.

The homeowner told police he confronted the man in the garage and it moved to the back of the house. He says the man cornered him, threatening his life with a gun. Within minutes, Fitzsimmons says it was all over.

"I told him to drop it, backed up shot him, killed him."

The Town of Oconomowoc police say the man Fitzsimmons killed is James Babe IV, 39, of Waukesha. According to state court records, Babe is a life registered sex offender with a lengthy criminal history, including burglary.

Police are still trying to figure out why Babe was in Okauchee.

"It’s not normal out here -- people breaking into houses and somebody getting shot. It’s never happened in my career here,” said Lt. Russel Paar.

Neighbors said officers roped off the house in crime scene tape and worked through the early morning hours Saturday, into the evening. Police won’t say whether they found a gun near the alleged intruder, as Fitzsimmons described.

Mike Fitzsimmons says he acted in self defense, actions he’s still coming to grips with.

"I did not want this to happen. The last thing I want to do is something like that."

Police didn’t arrest Fitzsimmons. The department plans to hand the case over to the District Attorney’s office.

Babe's fiance tells TMJ4 he was in the area for a night out with friends at the bar. He also had family that lives in Oconomowoc. She said James Babe would never break into someones house or hurt anyone. She also claims he doesn't own a gun. She acknowledges Babe had a past but said he had committed himself to staying out of trouble and that would never do anything to take himself away from her and her two children. ..Source.. by Keller Russell

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No criminal charges coming in Okauchee fatal shooting

11-4-2011 Wisconsin:

An Okauchee man will not face criminal charges for fatally shooting an unarmed man who broke into his garage in August, Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel announced Friday.

James P. Babe IV, 39, was killed outside Michael Fitzsimmons' home about 2 a.m. Aug. 27. Schimel determined that Fitzsimmons, 47, fired two shots in self-defense.

Schimel laid out the details of the case and his analysis in a four-page letter to Town of Oconomowoc Police Chief James Wallis. According to the letter:

There was no evidence Fitzsimmons, 47, and Babe knew each other or had any kind of dispute. Nor is there any indication why Babe, who had a blood-alcohol level of 0.22, had entered Fitzsimmons' garage.

Phone records showed Babe made a call on his cell phone at 1:59 a.m., and that Fitzsimmons called 911 at 2:01 a.m. The letter doesn't indicate whom Babe called.

Police arrived within minutes.

"It seems unlikely that Mr. Fitzsimmons would have had enough time to calm down from the traumatic incident and attempt to prepare a false version of events," Schimel wrote. Fitzsimmons story didn't change as the day went on, and physical evidence corroborated it.

Fitzsimmons said he awoke when he heard noise in his garage, that he approached it from his deck and yelled out asking who was there and stated that he had a gun. He said Babe yelled back that he had a gun, then emerged from the garage onto the deck and lunged at him with what Fitzsimmons believed was a gun. Fitzsimmons fired once, and when Babe did not immediately go down or back away, fired a second shot.

There was evidence someone had broken into the garage, and Babe's cell phone case and keys were found there. There was no evidence Fitzsimmons had touched Babe's cell phone in an effort to stage the scene, Schimel wrote. The letter does not specify where Babe's cell phone was recovered.

The letter also revealed that Fitzsimmons had smoked marijuana earlier that night, a fact learned after he voluntarily submitted to a blood test. But he showed no signs of impairment when officers arrived, Schimel said, and so couldn't be charged with being armed while intoxicated.

He said a lesser charge of being armed with detectable amount of restricted substance wasn't appropriate given Fitzsimmons lack of a criminal history and lack of evidence at his home of any "substantial drug activity."

Fitzsimmons' attorney, Paul Bucher, said Friday his client is extremely sorry the shooting happened, but was scared to death and felt he had no choice but to shoot.

"He feels terrible. He's been on pins and needles" awaiting Schimel's decision, Bucher said.

Schimel has said for weeks that he was waiting on DNA test results from the State Crime Lab to make his final decision about whether the shooting was justified. He said Friday he had finally gotten those results late Tuesday but wasn't able to meet with Babe's family until Thursday.

He said the fact the Legislature adopted a castle doctrine Friday, which provides even more legal protection for people who shoot intruders in their home, business or vehicles, was merely a coincidence. He said the law is unlikely to affect most prosecutors' decisions in similar cases.

"If I believe that the evidence demonstrates that the use of force was justified, I will not issue charges," he said. "I do not know how this will impact civil cases." ..Source.. by Bruce Vielmetti of the Journal Sentinel

NV- Police: Slain home intruder had long criminal record

2-18-2009 Nevada:

The home intruder gunned down by a northeast valley resident Sunday was a registered sex offender with a long criminal history, Las Vegas police said.

The Clark County coroner’s office identified the dead man as Mark Clinton Vains, 42, of Las Vegas. Vains died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest at a residence on the 4600 block of Crystal Peak Drive, near Cheyenne Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard.

Resident Paul Witte returned home around 4:15 p.m. and upon entering discovered Vains, who was carrying a pellet gun, homicide Lt. Lew Roberts has said.

Roberts said Witte’s gun was registered.

Witte did not return calls from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

He told KVBC-TV, Channel 3 that he knew something was wrong when he saw a suitcase on the floor containing his possessions. He chambered a round and fired at Vains, who rushed him holding what appeared to be a .45-caliber handgun. Witte didn’t know it was a pellet gun until police told him so later.

“I didn’t create the situation,” Witte said. “I reacted to his actions. I have no remorse whatsoever.”

Vains died at the scene. Police said charges against Witte would not be sought.

Las Vegas police spokeswoman Barbara Morgan said Vains had a lengthy, local criminal history that included numerous arrests for burglaries and possession of stolen vehicles and property. He also was arrested in 2004 for lewdness with a minor under 14 and convicted.

Morgan said Vains’ most recent offenses include an attempted burglary arrest in December and run-ins with officers earlier this month, when he was arrested for possession of a stolen vehicle and felony failure to report his change of address as a convicted sex offender.

“Looks like burglary and car theft were his main occupations,” Morgan said.

Neighbors made several complaints about Vains to management at the Desert Winds Mobile Home Park, where he lived with his wife and teenage son. The park is on Nellis Boulevard, south of Las Vegas Boulevard

Desert Winds Manager Judy Sanders said neighbors knew of his sex offender status and criminal history and were uncomfortable with him. He lived there for about 17 years. Sanders said he spent many of those years in and out of jail.

Vains was seen taking electronics and computers into his home in years past, Sanders said. Late last year, Sanders said people from a neighboring mobile home park reported he had burglarized a home there.

“He wouldn’t stay out of trouble,” Sanders said.

On Jan. 14, Sanders got a court order barring Vains from returning to Desert Winds.

Sanders said she hadn’t seen Vains in the area recently and wasn’t surprised by the way he died.

“It was kind of sad but I could kind of see it coming.” ..News Source.. by MAGGIE LILLIS, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

MO- Cape Girardeau woman shoots, kills would-be rapist at her home

10-31-2008 Missouri:

A Cape Girardeau woman shot and fatally wounded Ronnie W. Preyer, 47, a registered sex offender who had broken into her home early this morning with the intention of raping her a second time, Cape Girardeau Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said today.

Swingle said he will not be charging the victim, an older woman who positively identified Preyer this morning as the man who raped her on Saturday.

"It is clear that under Missouri's self-defense law the woman was justified in using deadly force upon the intruder in her home because he was in the process of burglarizing her home when she shot him," Swingle wrote in a letter to police chief Carl Kinnison.

Cape Girardeau police had been keeping a close eye on the woman's home, in the southwest part of Cape Girardeau, since she reported the rape nearly a week ago.

In that instance, she'd heard the glass break in a basement window around midnight on Saturday, and decided to make a run for it through her front door, according to police reports of the incident. When she opened the door, Preyer attacked her.

He punched her in the face and forced her into the bedroom, where he raped her.

She reported the rape that night, and described her rapist.

Police were actively working the unsolved rape case, Swingle said, and had been frequently driving past the woman's home in case her attacker returned.

This morning, the woman called 911 after hearing a car door close near her residence. An officer responded, checked the doors and windows, including the one that had been broken during the first attack.

Her landlord had recently repaired the window for her, Swingle said.

Once the officer determined that no one had entered the home, he left.

About two hours later, the woman was at home watching television, when Preyer broke the same basement window and came in, getting the still-wet calking on his clothing as he did so, police reports said.

He found a main fuse panel in the basement and shut off the electricity. The victim immediately tried to call 911, but the phone would not work because there was no electric.

Having recently purchased a shotgun, she grabbed the weapon and when Preyer began banging on the basement door, she was ready for him. When he crashed through the basement door into her kitchen, she shot him once in the chest and ran, heading for a neighbor's house, where she called the police.

It only took officers 45 seconds to respond to the 911 call, Swingle said.

When they arrived, they saw Preyer stumbling away from the home, and an officer ordered him to stop. When he didn't, a female officer drew her own weapon and they forced him to the ground.

He was transported to Saint Francis Medical Center where he died several hours later.

Early Friday morning, the victim identified Preyer out of a photo line-up as both the man who raped her on Saturday and the man who broke into her house today.

Preyer's criminal history is speckled with home invasions and assaults, and he has been convicted of failing to inform the county of his change of address in compliance with registered sex offender laws. Swingle was getting ready to charge him with rape, attempted rape, burglary and attempted burglary this morning, armed with the positive eyewitness identification, when he learned around 9:30 a.m. that Preyer was dead.

Preyer was convicted in 1989 of raping and robbing a woman in New Madrid County and he served 15 years in prison on both charges.

He was also arrested last December and charged with attempted rape and second degree felony assault, but Swingle's office dismissed the charges because he did not think he could get a conviction, he said.

The victim in that case, a woman in her early 30s, allegedly went for a drive with Preyer, knowing of his sex offender status, and he attacked her while in the car.

After talking with the victim in that case, Swingle decided to dismiss the charges because the woman did not use a nearby phone to call for help, and because she went with Preyer because she was "bored," even though he was a sex offender, he said.

"We know in at least one case, he did a good job of picking his victim, this time, he didn't do such a good job," Swingle said. ..News Source.. by Bridget DiCosmo, Southeast Missourian

AZ- Slain man had violated court order, police say

9-30-2008 Arizona:

A woman shot and killed a man when he disregarded a protective order, broke into her home and cornered her in a bedroom, police said Monday.

There were "prior incidents of violence" between the man and the unidentified 49-year-old woman, an investigator said.

Terry Dean Milburn died at the woman's house near 39th and Voltaire avenues at 2 a.m. Sunday. The woman was not injured.

Milburn, 45, a registered Class 3 sex offender, was released in 2006 from the Arizona Department of Corrections after serving more than one year of a three-year sentence for kidnapping a woman at knifepoint before sexually assaulting her.

He is listed in the Arizona Department of Public Safety's sex-offender database as a transient who lives at 15th Avenue and Encanto Boulevard.

The woman called 911 after Milburn arrived at her home to report a violation of a protective order.

"While on the phone with the 911 operator, (Milburn) forced his way into her house by breaking a window," Phoenix police Detective Cindy Scott said in an e-mail.

"Fearing for her safety, the victim retreated to her bedroom. The suspect followed her to this room and she fatally shot him."

Phoenix Police forwarded the case to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for review after declining to recommend criminal charges against the woman, Scott said. ..News Source.. by Michael Ferraresi

Woman Kills Sex Offender

7-22-2002 New Mexico:

ALBUQUERQUE — A woman overpowered and killed a convicted sex offender who had broken into her home and had tried to rape her, police said.

The woman, identified only as being in her early 30s, told police she was home alone and was asleep in her bed when she was awakened about 1:30 a.m. Saturday by a flashlight pointed toward her face and with a man straddling her, Albuquerque police Capt. Marie Saenz said.

The man, 51-year-old Michael Magirl of Albu quer que, was listed as a convicted sex offender on a state Department of Public Safety Web site. Magirl was convicted of criminal sexual penetration in March 1984 in Curry County.

Saenz said when the woman woke up, Magirl had a gun pointed at her chest. When she screamed and struggled, he threatened to kill her, Saenz said.

The victim, who did not know Magirl, decided to fight her attacker. She wrestled the handgun away from him and fired it three times, hitting him twice in the upper torso, Saenz said.

Magirl died at the scene. The woman suffered minor injuries.

Police called the death a justifiable homicide.

"In this case, the victim made the decision to struggle and fight back," Saenz said. "She made the decision that she was going to survive this incident."

Saenz said the woman was in good shape, but she said every case is different and police don't encourage victims to fight back.

"We encourage the victim to do what she feels is right in her circumstance," she said. ..more.. by The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

NC- Knock on door leads to shooting death

11-1-2003 North Carolina

GREENSBORO -- Thomas Earl Alston told police he was watching television with his girlfriend Thursday night when there was a knock on the door.

The man at the door -- 28-year-old Chester Kendale Lane -- asked Alston, 32, for a ride, then pulled a handgun, Alston told Greensboro police. The pair, who apparently didn't know each other, wound up exchanging gunfire about 9:15 p.m. outside Alston's apartment at 1008-E Rucker St., Greensboro police Sgt. Jane Allen said.

Neighbors in Brevard Park heard eight to 10 gunshots. Lane dropped to the sidewalk, with two gunshot wounds, one to the chest and another in the right thigh, said Dr. Thomas Owens of the state medical examiner's office. Lane, who has Randolph County ties but whose address is unknown, died minutes later at Moses Cone Hospital.

The investigation continues and no charges have been filed while police investigate Alston's claims of self-defense. Allen said once the investigation is completed -- she's not sure how long that will take -- the case will be presented to the district attorney, who will decide if charges should be filed.

Alston could not be located Friday for comment.

Police are checking to see if Lane was involved in a breaking and entering of a nearby house minutes before the fatal shooting. Officers had been called to the Brevard Park neighborhood and heard gunfire when they were taking a report of a man who broke into a house at 3939-A McIntosh St. and shot at two female residents as they ran off to call police.

The women, whose names have not been released by police, were uninjured. A woman at the house Friday said the victims did not want to comment.

Lane is listed on the state's sex offender registry -- with his address listed as unknown -- for being convicted of taking indecent liberties with a 13-year-old girl in Randolph County in 1994. He served 2.5 years in prison for that charge.

N.C. Department of Correction records also show Lane was convicted of possession of cocaine in 1991 and 2001, larceny in 1998, disorderly conduct in 1999, driving while intoxicated in 1992 and 1998, and receiving stolen goods in 1993. He was listed as an absconder from justice because he had not been reporting to his parole officer, as
ordered, on his latest drug charge.

Relatives could not be located Friday for comment.

The case is the city's 29th homicide of the year. ..more.. by Amy Wolfford Staff Writer, News & Record