VA Home Owner Fires Warning Shot At Unannounced Police – Wins Case

This happened in PORTSMOUTH, Virginia!

VA Home Owner Fires Warning Shot At Unannounced Police In Ninja Costumes - Wins Case
VA Home Owner Fires Warning Shot At Unannounced Police In Ninja Costumes – Wins Case
Virginia Citizens Defense League
Virginia Citizens Defense League

Covington VA –-(Ammoland.com)- Police, dressed up like ninjas in black tactical gear and unannounced, try to open a locked door on a house, the WRONG house, in the middle of the night.

The homeowner hears the noise and tries to see who is in his yard.  Men in dark clothing point guns with lasers at the homeowner.

Homeowner, with a laser beam on his chest and in fear for his life fires a warning shot through a window and flees to neighbor’s house to get help.

Once the police have finally identified themselves to the homeowner, the homeowner disarms.   Then the police, who are at the wrong house and pointing loaded guns at the innocent occupant, charge the homeowner with reckless handling of a firearm!

A jury didn’t buy it and rightfully so.  (That said, I maintain that warning shots should never be used.)

The charge cost the homeowner his job and he’s planning on suing.  I hope he wins big.

“‘As far as the officers response, I support their response 100 percent,’ said Portsmouth Police Chief  Ed Hargis, who claims his men never heard Watson say he had a gun or say anything. ‘Anytime the police hear there is a firearm, they start giving verbal commands, and they start yelling police.’”

Well if that’s what it takes anymore for police, dressed in all black and in the middle of the night, to identify themselves, then they should assume every home has a firearm in it.  And a person is NOT required to tell anyone that they have a firearm before using that gun in self-defense.

“The jury thought Watson showed restraint by only firing one shot.”

Amen.  And the police were lucky he didn’t fire that shot, and more, through the door instead of out a window.  By attempting entry into that house and pointing guns at the homeowner, the police set themselves up for disaster.

“‘This case, and firearm instructor concerns, as well as executive staff, we have modified the policy and taken the lasers off the weapons,’ Chief Hargis said.”

Call me cynical, but I think they are taking those lasers off because putting a laser beam on someone’s chest is evidence that a loaded gun is indeed pointed at them.  Such evidence prevents the police from successfully claiming otherwise, as they tried to do in this case.

Police are NOT the military and should not dress or act is if they are.  If this trend doesn’t bother you, it should.  SWAT teams were created to handle hostage situations only, but now they’re are involved in all kinds of situations and many times with unnecessarily deadly consequences for innocent citizens AND the police.

NBC12.com – Richmond, VA News

From nbc12.com:  https://tinyurl.com/nco3wpj

About:
Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. (VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right. Visit: www.vcdl.org

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Mike Ammons Sr

I don’t fire warning shots, and I wasn’t taught in the USMC to ever fire a warning shot. ONE SHOT, ONE KILL !!!!!!!!. They should have focused on what they were doing and where they were at, if they don’t have enough sense to know if they are at the right address or not, then they surely don’t deserve to be a law enforcement officer.

Paul

The author of this article is right. Don’t fire warning shots. Shoot to kill the invading criminals. I for one don’t have a problem killing criminals no matter what they are wearing. “Police” have crossed the line a long time ago. They have been beating people for no reason, killing dogs for no reason giving the BS excuse they were in fear of getting bitten. BS!! I’ve seen videos of very friendly dogs wagging their tail in a plea for attention from these so called “law enforcement officers” only to get shot and killed for doing so! They have been… Read more »

james

I have house numbers on the back of my porch to keep the police from breaking into the wrong home.

james

Hope he can get his job back unless the employer was being a pita about his arrest.

He should be made whole and while money can’t fix everything it can help.

PD should be glad he did not use an AR instead of his pistol.

James Anderson

OOOrah Mr. Watson. You performed as any citizen should when confronted with such a situation.And I am impressed that we have a few judges out there who believe in enforcing the law, not rewriting it to some bufoons advantage!This is an ongoing problem nation wide with so many wannabes enacting their dreams with the coverage of a badge. Take the military action away from these fools. If they want to be military have them see their local recruiters. If they can qualify.Again Mr. Watson, job well done.

Dave

I hate typos……First and foremost, I am very much pro Law Enforcement. I have several family members in that community. In this case Law Enforcement was real lucky they didn’t get injured. I wouldn’t have been that nice as I do not fire warning shots. Can’t afford it. I see someone or a group of someones lurking around my house all ninja’d up and I can NOT id them as law enforcement visually or they fail to do a reverse 911 on my house. I’ll kill them. The first guy getting shot IS my warning shot to those that haven’t… Read more »

Cecil

I am happy that so far, the mans case is going his way – though losing his job is very bad. As to the comment in the article: “(That said, I maintain that warning shots should never be used.)” So you wanted him to kill a cop? You wanted him to be the recipient of multiple guns firing into his home? Or maybe you wanted him to just submit? Your statement is asinine and illogical. Think before you mount your high horse.

Brett Baylor

‘Anytime the police hear there is a firearm, they start giving verbal commands, and they start yelling police.’”

Hmmmmm… If I were a criminal I’d take a mental note.
Dress in all black.
Tape a $2.00 laser to my piece of crap gun.
Wait for the wee hours.
Find a suitable residence.
Yell Police and commands “open up” sounds good.
Wait for the door to open.

3006Al

Those officers needed to be severely reprimanded, as well as the police chief. A new chief is in order also. This is the only way to control these situations and a few rogue cops. How did these cops think the home owner would know who they were? With windows closed how could he hear any communication, if there was any, which is doubtful.

Robert Fowler

Remember boys and girls, hips and heads. A severed femoral artery is your friend.

LF Saito

He should have waited for entry b4 firing however he’d be dead. This paramilitary BS with the Police is going to get people killed
while they practice their anti-insurrection opps. Remember it wouldn’t be the Army or Navy coming to disarm you it’ll be your local sheriff and his Iraq / Afghanistan surplus equipment supplied by the HLS.

RE Hafner

About time juries slapped down power hungry civilian cops acting like teenage ninja turtles.

DrSique

Every cop who was involved with this cluster£u€k should get down on his knees and thank God that the man fired a warning shot, instead of attempting to end the threat.

Granny Grunch

Right on, bro. We are seeing more and more of these no knock midnite raids backfiring on these wannabe ninjas. And,of course, the chiefy had to make the comment backing his raiding party commandos hitting THE WRONG HOUSE. Whats the criteria there for getting a badge and gun. If I was with that dept. I sure as heck wouldn’t tell anyone.

NormB

Another win in the ongoing game of No-knock home invasion vs. homeowner.
Homeowners – 3, SWATZIs – 0.