The Armed Citizen® October 19, 2020

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posted on October 19, 2020
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Armed Citizen® Today

A man driving on the interstate in Kenton County, Ky., was forced to defend himself with his pistol after being involved in a road rage related crash, after which the driver of the other vehicle pointed a rifle at him through the car window on Oct. 9, 2020.

The man, from Cincinnati, Ohio, was driving Northbound that Friday on I-75 near Fort Mitchell, Ky., when he became the victim in a rolling road rage confrontation that ultimately resulted in the two vehicles crashing. After the crash both vehicles pulled to the side of the road. It was at this point that the other driver got out of his vehicle and approached the man's vehicle with a .30-'06 Sprg. Tikka bolt-action rifle in hand. The aggressor then pointed the rifle through the passenger side window into the man's face.

In response to the rifle being pointed in his face while he was still in his vehicle, the man drew his 9 mm Taurus handgun and fired at least four shots at the aggressor. The man called 911 at 1:22 p.m., just after the crash, recording a verbal confrontation between the two men and the gunshots. The man told the dispatcher he fired shots and struck the other man, after which he could be heard administering first aid to the wounded aggressor. 

Police arrived to the scene of the crash around 1:30 p.m. The 41-year-old aggressor had multiple gunshot wounds and was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he later died. Investigators found multiple empty liquor bottles in the aggressor's vehicle. Witnesses also shared photos with authorities in which the aggressor can be clearly seen pointing the rifle through the passenger side car window at the man 

Authorities also recovered the Tikka rifle used by the aggressor, unloaded and with the trigger locked. Kenton County Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Sanders says the shooting was justified and his office is not pursuing charges in the incident against the man. Sanders also said that "There was no way for the man to know the rifle being stuck in his face was inoperable," and that his use of deadly force against the aggressor was not unreasonable or unlawful. (c
incinnati.com, Cincinnati, Ohio, 10/12/2020)

From the Armed Citizen® Archives June 1979  

Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Gantt were at home when a muscular young intruder climbed through their bedroom window one night in St. Petersburg, Fla., and assaulted the elderly couple. He then began to ransack their house. Though his hip had been broken in the attack, the 73-year-old husband reached for his loaded pistol, while his wounded wife pushed a chair against the bedroom door.

When the assailant burst through the door, Mr. Gantt shot him in the neck. Police later said that the attacker had been out of prison only a short time after serving 28 months for similar crimes. (The Times, St. Petersburg, Fla.)

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