The Armed Citizen® January 8, 2013

George Polanin, 66, went to bed early one evening only to be awakened by noises coming from inside his home. He was upstairs and followed the sound of footsteps to the basement. when he reached the stairs. Polanin said he could see only the intruder's feet. "… I got my weapon and basically told him I had a weapon, it was loaded and I will use it," Polanin said. He then ordered the intruder to come out as he dialed 911. Polanin held the intruder at gunpoint until police arrived. (Kenosha News, Kenosha, WI, 10/17/12)

The Armed Citizen Extra

Jack Thompson estimates it was three seconds between his back door being kicked in until his bedroom door began opening, and he started shooting. "It's terrifying when you see somebody in your bedroom door," said Thompson, 78, of Brewers. Thompson got off three shots with his Walther .32-caliber semiautomatic about 4 a.m. Monday when the pistol jammed. "Then I was in trouble," Thompson said. He grabbed the loaded 12-gauge shotgun that always lies on his dresser and fired once. "All I could see was the silhouette of him coming in the door," he said of the intruder. Deputy sheriffs found Mitchell Saddoris, 22, of Kirskey lying in a pool of blood on the back porch of Jack and Judy Thompson's home on Oak Grove Church Road minutes later. He had a pistol wound to the abdomen and had taken a shotgun blast to his shoulder. He was going in and out of consciousness. Sheriff Kevin Byars said investigators believe a second person was with Saddoris at the home, but escaped. "Mr. Thompson did exactly what he was allowed to do," Byars said. "There won't be any kind of criminal charges against Mr. Thompson, because he was definitely defending his home." Byars believes the shooting was a burglary gone wrong. The intruders didn't realize the Thompsons had slept with their windows open, and Thompson had time to get his pistol when the couple heard talking and footsteps. Marshall sheriff's detective Matt Hilbrecht said investigators tried to interview Saddoris at Marshall County Hospital, but emergency room staff had put a tube down his throat. Afterward, Saddoris was transferred to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., where he was in critical condition and having surgery. Hilbrecht said Saddoris would face robbery, burglary and possibly other charges once released from the hospital, if he survives. "I'm sorry, but I had no other choice," Thompson said of shooting Saddoris, and added, "That's all that saved my life, I guess, was having a weapon." (The Paducah Sun, Paducah, KY, 3/20/12)

From The Armed Citizen Archives

"Give me all the money you have here," demanded a man armed with a big knife of Cleveland, Ohio, van lines clerk, Mrs. Patricia Cawthon. Mrs. Cawthon walked calmly to a nearby closet, picked up a snub nosed automatic pistol, turned to the knife-wielding bandit and said: "Where do you want it?" The thief ran out the door. (Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio)