Paige Ham, 28, and a friend woke to a loud noise outside of their residence just after 4 a.m. They looked out the window and noticed that a lock had been cut from an outside shed. While Ham went outside to secure the shed door, her friend dialed 9-1-1. As Ham walked toward the shed, a man charged at her. Ham pulled out her .380 caliber pistol and fired three rounds, striking the assailant once in the chest. He fell just a few feet away. Police arrived shortly thereafter, and the assailant was taken to a local hospital. It was last reported that he was in stable condition. No other injuries were reported. (Goldsboro News-Argus, Goldsboro, NC 8/7/14)
The Armed Citizen® Extra
A Kansasville, Wis., couple awoke at 2:30 a.m. to find a strange man standing over their bed with a knife in hand. The intruder then attacked the male resident, leading to a struggle for control of the knife, during which the homeowner suffered a cut to the throat that ran from just below one ear to near his Adam’s apple. While the men were scuffling, the female tenant retrieved a firearm and fired it once at the trespasser. Although the shot missed, it did cause the criminal to flee the scene. Police were later able to follow the culprit’s footprints from the victims’ home to the attacker’s house, where he was arrested. Inside the 28-year-old man’s residence they found a journal where he had detailed his plans to murder the couple just to see if he could do it. The attacker now faces two attempted murder charges. The male victim was treated and released for the laceration to his throat. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee, WI, 1/21/15)
From The Armed Citizen® Archives
October 1980
Alton Altizer heard the sound of breaking glass about 3 a.m. at the gun store in the same building as his Arnoldsburg, W.Va., apartment. Altizer called state police, then he went outside to investigate. When Altizer hailed a man carrying three rifles from Bartlett’s Gun Store, the man spun in his direction, and Altizer fired his 12-ga. shotgun. The burglar, a recently released, three-time escapee from the state penitentiary, was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said a stolen car with 18 handguns taken from the store was parked nearby. (The Inter-Mountain, Elkins, WV)
