Don’t wake the dragon!
A 62-year-old Marine veteran fought off three home intruders with a handgun last Thursday, injuring all three.
Michael Irving of Theodore, Alabama, was shot in the shoulder when a male suspect fired a shotgun through his front door, but the veteran gave back more than he took. All three of the suspects were injured when Irving returned fire. Two fled the scene to a nearby Dollar General, where they surrendered to police. One is still hospitalized.
Irving told local news that “when someone just shot and is trying to kill you it just wakes up the dragon.” He credited his quick response to his experience in the military. “Always react and do it before you get time to get scared,” he said.
This wasn’t Irving’s first time to be a victim of a home invasion. The three suspects had allegedly visited his house two weeks before, stealing his medication and threatening to return if he told the police. After the first invasion, Irving ignored the threat and called the police. Authorities have not confirmed whether the second home invasion was a response to Irving contacting the police.
The suspects have been identified publicly by police as Casey Gann, 29, Chasatie Dulabhan, 24, and Joseph Heathcock, 19. Dulabhan and Heathcock have prior robbery convictions, while Gann was previously arrested on several drug-related charges.
Police are also working to determine whether a fourth suspect was involved.
This home invasion occurred days after the Violence Policy Center (VPC) released its yearly study on gun use in the United States. Despite VPC’s radical anti-gun stance, and its history of questionable data gathering, the study admits that incidents of defensive gun use have increased over the last two years with an average of 94,900 incidences of self-protective gun use every year from 2013 and 2015.
Irving’s use of a handgun to save his life represents only one of the at least 260 defensive uses of a firearm that take place per day around the country. Given the VPC’s agenda, the actual number is likely much higher. Still, 94,900 defensive firearm uses per year dwarfs the number of gun homicides committed in 2014 (7,670).
The Bureau of Justice Statistics, a federal organization, reports that 3.5 million home invasions took place every year between 2003 and 2007. In one million of these incidents, at least one household member was present at the time of the invasion.
The suspects involved in the Alabama incident, at least one of whom was armed with a shotgun, likely possessed their firearm illegally.
I have a nephew in the Army, well done Sir.
Seller Fi
Semper Fi
Sic em Devil Dog we need more like you to make the bad guys think about what could happen to them if they are bad boys go Marine
Sgt. Shorty U S M C \’78-84
The perpetrators had prior convictions, and this is one of the problems with our judicial system. By the time an individual in this country is convicted of a violent crime, they have likely committed several, and rather than lock them up in institutions that, by their very nature, ensure that they become more violent, we should be addressing their problems earlier on. Once it becomes clear that someone has the propensity for violent behavior, incarcerating them with like minded individuals is the absolute worst thing for the welfare of the community they will eventually be returned to. Okay so I don’t have a politically feasible solution, but I do have an obvious one. Take away their ability to harm others. Yes, I’m talking about chemical emasculation – cheaper than incarceration and much more effective!
Amen!
Well Done, Oorah Kill them all, Let God Sort Them Out! Scum bag’s The only Good Home Invader, Is a Dead Home Invader!
Too bad they can still look down at the flowers. They need to be lookin’ up at the roots. They deserve just what they got.
Well done Sir. I have mad respect for you. I understand your reluctance to kill these home invaders. I understand your desire for a peaceful existence. I myself hope I never have to respond to a home invasion with force. But if you shoot these punks and they live, then their scars just become a “badge of honor” that they love to show off to their other comrades in crime. Not trying to tell anyone how to respond to a threat. We all have to live with our decisions. Just pointing out the obvious.
If this happen in the commie Northeast, the criminals would be the victims and the heroes, the vet would be the criminal who would be railroaded into prison. The butt kissing of criminals makes us good guys sick to our stomachs.
Well done Marine. I seved with H-2/26 Nam 66-67 and K-3/1 69 three Months wounded and discharged after Hospital stay.
Semper Fi,
John
Well done brother !
I’m glad this vet was able to protect himself despite are anti-gun doer’s around this country! The real problem is that punishment for criminals never fits the crime! We have had so may bleeding hearts make laws which favor the acts of the criminal and makes them more human than the rest of us! When a fellow human commits a crime against another human, at that instant they stop being apart of the human race. They have proven they have no humanity and deserve none in the way they are treated after the fact! We must Stop our believing criminals are like the rest of us, they are not! We must put these dregs of society away so the rest of us can have resemblance of peace and security!
Oorah Way to go Devil Dog. Love the comment and “That’s when I smoked them.” Do not screw with an old Marine we’re old and cranky.
Well done Marine , from an Old retired Doggie.
Well done jar head .I hate to admit that.
SSG ALLEN Lawson
US ARMY 1963- 1971
Well done jar head . I hate to admit that.
SSG Allen Lawson
X US ARMY
A war vet… On multiple medications… THIS is who our federal government has been most concerned with disarming through backdoor policy amendments of the Veterans Administration, enforced by the BATFE. Had they been successful at this point, this proud vet would have been left almost helpless against the scum of our society.
Good for the devil dog, but the real question is why were the three perps not already in jail for their crimes, and why were they not under arrest for the burglary that occurred 2 weeks prior?
I, like many others, and sick and tired of the criminal ‘justice’ system coddling criminals, and this if just another in an endless series of flagrant examples.
The judge responsible for releasing these thugs needs to be publicly horse whipped, and then removed from office.
He did what they wrote but I believe they added glitter to the story. He did not shoot to kill because he did not wish to kill. He defended himself and property, leave out the bravado. He earned that in Nam and just wants peace now. He is sick and in poor health and many from Theodore and Mobile are reaching out to help him.
I’m sure that if some “common sense” gun control legislation including a “universal background check” were enacted these 3 would have run down and done everything so they could legally invade this mans home.
From one Marine to another. Well done brother! Hold your head high, and take no prisoners!
So, all three suspects are out on the streets with prior convictions….SHOCKING, eh, to the anti-gun community who thinks only NRA members commit “gun violence”
The real problem is the lawyers and judges and stiffening the law Because if you’re out robbing people doing home invasions then you do not need to breathe the Air that the Earth provides and I realize there are people that are just evil and bad and no matter what Law you provide they’re not scared so those type of people just need to be executed and gone but these people keep doing harm to other people robbing them then they go to jail and right back out until they kill somebody and then it’s very possible they’ll get right back out again we have got to do something about this problem stiffen the punishment make believers out of them
HO-RAH, well done Marine.
Semper Fi, Brother!
I am as glad the victim was not hurt more seriously than he was as I am glad he was able to defend himself against these three punks. The only downside is that they all three lived, and some day they will be able to walk amongst law abiding citizens once again – albeit many years from now. That is not meant to be a knock against the victim, I just feel things would have been better all around if he had been able to take them all out permanently.
Once a Marine Always a Marine. Every Marine is a Rifleman and most can handle a handgun too. Well done Sir!
Semper Fi