Ga. mom who shot intruder inspires gun rights advocates
Melinda Herman shot the man who broke into her Loganville, Ga., home. / CBS Atlanta
LOGANVILLE, Ga.A Georgia mother who shot an intruder at her home has become a small part of the roaring gun control debate, with some firearms enthusiasts touting her as a textbook example of responsible gun ownership.
Melinda Herman grabbed a handgun and hid in a crawl space with her two children when a man broke in last week and approached the family at their home northeast of Atlanta, police said. Herman called her husband on the phone, and with him reminding her of the lessons she recently learned at a shooting range, Herman opened fire, seriously wounding the burglary suspect.
The National Rifle Association tweeted a link to a news story about the shooting, and support poured in from others online, hailing Herman as a hero. The local sheriff said he was proud of the way she handled the situation.
"This lady decided that she wasn't going to be a victim, and I think everyone else looks at this and hopes they have the courage to do what she done," Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman said Wednesday.
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Herman was working from home Friday when she saw a man walk up to the front door. She told police he rang the doorbell twice and then over and over again. He went back to his SUV, got something out and walked back toward the house, a police report said.
Herman took her 9-year-old son and daughter into an upstairs bedroom and locked the door. They went into bathroom and she locked that door, too. She got her handgun from a safe, the report said, and hid with her children. At some point, she called her husband, who kept her on the line and called 911 on another line.
In a 10-minute 911 recording released by the Walton County Sheriff's Office, Donnie Herman calmly explained what was happening to a dispatcher. His part of the conversation with his wife was also recorded.
"Is he in the house, Melinda? Are you sure? How do you know? You can hear him in the house?" Donnie Herman said.
His wife told him the intruder was coming closer.
"He's in the bedroom? Shh, shh, relax. Just remember everything that I showed you, everything that I taught you, all right?" Donnie Herman told his wife, explaining later to the dispatcher that he had recently taken her to a gun range.
It wasn't clear from the recording exactly when they went to range and Donnie Herman told The Associated Press on Wednesday the family didn't want to talk about the shooting.
After Donnie Herman told his wife police were on the way, he started shouting: "She shot him. She's shootin' him. She's shootin' him. She's shootin' him. She's shootin' him."
"OK," the dispatcher responded.
"Shoot him again! Shoot him!" Donnie Herman yelled. He told the dispatcher he heard a lot of screaming, but he seems to get increasingly worried when he doesn't hear anything from his wife.
Melinda Herman told police she started shooting the man when he opened the door to the crawl space. The man pleaded with her to stop, but she kept firing until she had emptied her rounds, she told police. She then fled to a neighbor's house with her children.
The man drove away in his SUV. Police found the SUV on another subdivision street and discovered a man bleeding from his face and body in a nearby wooded area. Police identified the suspect as 32-year-old Paul Slater of Atlanta.
Chapman said the hospital asked him not to comment on Slater's condition, but he said he is not certain Slater will survive.
CBS Atlanta affiliate WGCL-TV reports Slater is on a ventilator.
Authorities have a warrant but haven't formally arrested Slater yet. They plan to charge him with burglary, possession of tools for the commission of a crime and aggravated assault, Walton County sheriff's Capt. Greg Hall said.
A phone number for Slater was not listed and it was not clear whether he has an attorney.
Authorities believe Slater targeted a home in another local subdivision but left when confronted by the homeowner, Chapman said.
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From 2006 thru 2010 firearms related deaths have fallen by almost 17% , so again these statistics point to a reduction of firearm related violence AFTER the assault weapons ban of '92 expired.
Knowing this, why is there such an urgent push to pass fireams laws that have proven not to work.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/10shrtbl08.xls
With violent crime and murder going down by 50% in the last 20 years I am curious which part of the firearms bans have been successful in actually reducing these crimes ?
The violent crimes and murders started declining 2 years before the failed assault weapons ban of '94 and continued to decline 7 years after the sun set on that ignorant idea, so again with the population increasing the violence and murders dropped.
In 1992 violent crimes accounted for 757 per 100000 and murders were at 9.3 per 100000
in 2011 Violent crimes accounted for 386 per 100000 and murders were at 4.7 per 100000
By the way, Great Brittan and Wales have a violent crime rate 3.5 times greater than the United States which is at 1361 per 100000.
Though they have a lower murder rate which is at 1.3 which is about 3.5 times lower than ours we have a population almost 6 times larger than theirs.
So again how do the gun grabbing ideas actually work according to the numbers ?
Bunch of pathetic losers bent on some twisted agenda based on moronic ideals that do not work
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/tables/table-1
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/june/crimes_061112/crimes_061112
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/crime-research/hosb0812/hosb0812?view=Binary
are you just a poor-uneducated speller, or was the correct spelled word, Imposter George already taken ?
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Imp, the next time you see an incorrectly spelled word, take out your red permanent marker and draw a circle around it. God it?
> Request to sell to Feds, request for background check (with fee), report of findings in background (with fee), second checks through local, country, and state police (at their leisure), notification and approval of family and neighbors (with plenty of time to reply and file disapprovals) which can lead to a hearing and further fees and delays, re-registration through an FLF (with fee), and whenever the owner moves, re-notification of new neighbors.
OK, unlikely? Overstated? Maybe, but just you consider government agencies you've had to deal with before. How about: Building permits, changes to houses or landscaping in a homeowner's association or house preservation area, privte used car sales when there's a hiccup with the vehicle's emission system, etc, etc.
Still thinking like a beaurocrat, annual recurring requirements (with fees): home safety re-certification, firearm handling re-certification. Further, "home safety recertification" can be carried out at will by any law enforcement agency AND if you get any tickets or neighbor "suspicious" complaints, your firearms are seized.
Old? Crazy? Outlanish? Perhaps, but like he/she said, just think about gov agencies you've seen evolve avid have dealt with.
Only in AZ and TX would I feel really comfortable using a firearm for protection, otherwise you risk going to jail yourself.
Bad guys in AZ fully expect to be shot.
TX has a saying "Better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6."
Slow do you know police are trained to shoot to kill and they ever shoot to wound their jobs can be in jeapordy?
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Actually, SMOKEY, you're incorrect. Police officers are not "trained to shoot to kill."
They are trained just like any other well-trained person with guns is trained. They are trained to shoot the "center of mass." That is their official training. They target shoot to hit the most 'centered' part of a target- the center of its mass. Wounding or killing is not in the training lexicon.
Whether it is a trained sharpshooter, or a patrolmen who draws his gun on the street in a moment's haste, their training each dictates to aim a gun the center of mass, which for a sharpshooter may at times be a much more limited piece of real estate than a beat cop suddenly finding himself in a gunfight with a street subject.
You wouldn't gun hunt crocodile, in terms of your exact aim, the way you would a deer or turkey, is all.