It happens more often than I might have thought: someone mistaken for a prowler or a burglar is shot and more often than not killed by a homeowner.
Some, though, just really make you shake your head and fear for this country.
Joe Hendrix, 34, was not facing charges as of Friday for fatally shooting Ronald Westbrook, whom he found wandering in his backyard in Chickamauga sometime around 4 a.m. on Wednesday, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.
Authorities in the rural northwest Georgia town said Westbrook suffered from advanced Alzheimer’s disease and was disoriented and possibly suffering from exhaustion when he rang Hendrix’s doorbell and repeatedly jiggled his front door handle shortly before the deadly encounter.
snip
The tragic incident began sometime around midnight, when Westbrook and his two dogs left his home and walked some three miles in sub-freezing temperatures before ending up in Hendrix’s neighborhood, where Westbrook himself once lived, Walker County authorities said.
snip
He eventually ended up on the porch of Hendrix’s rented home on Cottage Crest Court, and began ringing the bell and turning the door knob, authorities said.
Hendrix and his fiancé were awakened at around 4 a.m. to the sounds of someone trying to get into the home and called 911, the newspaper reported.
Ten minutes later, Hendrix grabbed his .40-caliber pistol and went outside, where he spotted Westbrook behind the house.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new…
You can guess what happens next. Hendrix shot Westbrook after the older man apparently did not respond to commands to stop. Four times … Westbrook was shot four times including once in the chest.
But Hendrix was cooperative and is distraught over the shooting.
Nothing says “Happy Thanksgiving” like having to go tell the family of a 72-year-old Alzheimer’s sufferer that he was shot and killed after wandering to the wrong house in the middle of the night. But let’s pile on and tell said family that no charges are likely to be filed under the “Stand Your Ground” law in Georgia.
Someone explain to me why in the world you would think a burglar or prowler would ring the damned doorbell to announce himself? Why would you do the right thing by calling 911 and then decide you need to go investigate on your own in the dark? Then you shoot the guy who is 72 years old when you are 34 … seriously, if you cannot handle yourself against a senior citizen without shooting him you deserve to get your ass kicked.
A number of years ago I was up late at night watching television and saw someone at my patio door. Like any thinking person I called 911 and stayed in my apartment; I certainly didn’t feel the need to confront whomever was paying an unannounced late-night visit at the wrong door.
Then there was the time more recently when Sam the cat was acting weird and I walked into the living room to see the window wide open and a pair of legs on the other side. I was roused from a sound sleep and didn’t know what the heck was going on and confronted the person. It turns out she was a drunk young lady with a purse dangling from her arm and a bag of popcorn in one hand trying to visit my neighbor. But I can’t tell you how many people said, “If it would have been my house and I’d had my gun …” Right, because I could have shot some idiot drunken fool in my semi-asleep, fear-induced state. I could have shot the cat, too. Instead she stumbled away and I eventually went back to bed. No harm, no foul and no dead person.
I hope Mr. Hendrix is distraught. I hope he sees Mr. Westbrook’s face every day and every night. It is too much to hope he’ll do prison time.
9 comments