IGX

Elderly farmer near Bois D'Arc pulls gun on 3 thieves who came back for more
Vance West believes the men recently stole $3,000 worth of property from him.

An elderly cattle rancher recently came face-to-face with three thieves on his property, and he took the matter into his own hands. The thieves might have been arrested if Vance West had been able to get someone to help him.

Vance West, 92, is a veteran and father of three. He lives by himself outside Bois d'Arc on more than 100 acres.

“See, there's where they left,” he told a reporter, pointing out tire tracks. “They will be back. I think they will be back.”

West says three men stole nearly $3,000 worth of equipment from one of his sheds. He missed the first time they came around, but not the second.

“He started climbing over the gate, and I told him not to climb over. He climbed over anyway, so I pulled a gun on him,” West said.

“I told him, ‘Do you see where it's cocked?’ He says, ‘I can see,’” West said. “He was sassy. He told me he wasn't going to do it.”

A retired school librarian and his brother-in-law held three burglars at gunpoint until police could get to a property on West Kearney Street near West Bypass on Monday morning. The three arrested men could face burglary charges.

"It was way out of character for me," said Ken Richardson, the retired librarian.

Richardson said, when he saw an unfamiliar vehicle parked in his family's driveway, he knew he had to do something. The home belongs to the grandmother of Richardson's brother-in-law.

"Gary grabbed his gun and said, 'Let's get in the truck and go,'" said Richardson.

Richardson said the two drove over to the house on Kearney. He said they spotted three burglars in an outbuilding. Richardson said that's when he pulled out a machete, normally used on his farm, and his brother-in-law pulled out his gun.

"We made it real clear to get down on the ground and show us their hands," said Richardson.

The brothers-in-law said they did not have much time to think about their own safety. They said their concern was protecting the property. They were able to keep the three men on the ground until police arrived.

James Young, 19, and Brandon Matthews, 22, and a minor, now face burglary charges.

As of Monday evening, investigators had not yet determined what the three were trying to steal but said it was likely pieces of metal.

Washington residents are up in arms, though not armed. With violent crime up 40 percent in the first two months of the year - including double the number of robberies at gunpoint - residents are looking for ways to protect themselves. Elected officials and police have no solution.

Take Benjamin Portman, who lives on Capitol Hill, part of the 1st District, where violent crime has increased the most. A total of 110 incidents have been reported in 2012, a 69 percent jump, according to statistics obtained by The Washington Times. Two weeks ago, Mr. Portman’s male roommate and his girlfriend were robbed by three armed men in ski masks as they walked home on a well-lit street.

That spurred Mr. Portman to attend a community meeting on the increased violence, which was held last week by D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh, Ward 3 Democrat. Mr. Portman asked officials why the city makes it so difficult for law-abiding residents to register guns and refuses to allow them to carry weapons outside of the home.

As you can see in the video below, Paul Quander, the District’s deputy mayor for public safety and justice, responded that crime victims should give the criminals what they want. Mr. Portman protested, saying, “But how do you know you’re going live and survive? You’re completely at their mercy.”

Mr. Quander thinks victimhood is preferable to self-defense. “The problem is, if you are armed, it escalates the situation,” Mr. Quander told residents. “It is much better, in my opinion, to be scared, to be frightened, and even if you have to be, to be injured, but to walk away and survive. You’ll heal, and you can replace whatever was taken away.”

Turdacious wrote:

Mr. Quander thinks victimhood is preferable to self-defense. “The problem is, if you are armed, it escalates the situation,” Mr. Quander told residents. “It is much better, in my opinion, to be scared, to be frightened, and even if you have to be, to be injured, but to walk away and survive. You’ll heal, and you can replace whatever was taken away.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... -a-victim/