U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- Crime and armed defense happen everywhere. That doesn’t mean that every time and place is equally dangerous. We see career criminals re-offend. We also see more citizens who are armed in pro-gun states. Pahrump, Nevada, is home to the Nye county jail, a Nevada state prison, and an extensive firearms training center. As you might expect, this homeowner was armed last week when a repeat offender broke into his home. This defender did the right thing at the right time.
The homeowner was asleep in his bed a little after 9:30 at night. He was woken by a noise coming from his kitchen. The homeowner got out of bed and grabbed his handgun. The defender had his gun in his hands when the intruder kicked down his bedroom door. The homeowner shot the intruder twice in the upper-center chest as the intruder came through the fatal funnel of the doorway. The intruder immediately fell to the floor. The defender stopped shooting. He stayed at the scene and called 911 for help.
News reports don’t mention when the homeowner put away his firearm. The homeowner met law enforcement when they arrived. He also gave the officers a brief statement.
Emergency Medical Services began treatment of the attacker. He was first driven to a local transport pad and then flown by a medical helicopter to the nearest level 1 trauma center in Las Vegas. The attacker was immediately placed in critical care.
Police identified the firearm that the armed attacker was carrying. It was a shotgun stolen the night before during a home invasion at another address. The intruder was also identified as Shawn Richards. Richards has a history of criminal convictions. If he survives, he will be charged with home invasion, grand larceny of a firearm, burglary, being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, and probation violations.
Nevada is a castle doctrine state, so the local prosecutor has the legal burden to prove that the defender did not face an immediate, lethal, and unavoidable threat of death or great bodily injury in his home. Nevada is also a stand-your-ground state, meaning the defender did not have a legal duty to retreat. According to the Nye county sheriff’s office, the homeowner will not face any charges.
This story is one of many that goes underreported by the mainstream media because it shows a positive image of a law-abiding gun owner using that tool to defend their life and family. It is our responsibility at AmmoLand to report these stories to you the reader. While we will continue to report these stories, groups like the Crime Prevention Research Center, led by Dr. John Lott, are fastidious in studying the use of firearms for self-defense. Stay up to date with all news on self-defense by following CPRC and Ammoland.
Original News Sources-
- Armed homeowner opens fire on shotgun-toting crook who invaded residence. Seriously wounded suspect was wanted on probation violation.
- NSCO: Intruder shot in Pahrump home invasion was ‘wanted man’
- Sheriff’s Office: Alleged home invader shot by resident in Pahrump
- Homeowner shoots, seriously injures intruder in Pahrump, police say
- Man shot while committing home invasion in Pahrump, Nye County police say
About Rob Morse
Rob Morse writes about gun rights at Ammoland, at Clash Daily, at Second Call Defense, and on his SlowFacts blog. He hosts the Self Defense Gun Stories Podcast and co-hosts the Polite Society Podcast. Rob was an NRA pistol instructor and combat handgun competitor.
I certainly hope they pass a gun law that makes it illegal for a felon to break into someone’s home, steal a shotgun, break into another home, and attack a citizen in their bedroom. You just never know what malfeasance a gun is going to commit next. I just don’t get why the perp didn’t stand on the porch and torch off a couple of shotgun blasts into the air to first scare the homeowner off, aka Joe Biden style?
Dang – who pays for all the bloodstains to be removed by ServPro? You know, like it never even happened…lol
I will be interested to see if the TV show On Patrol will cover this story since they do cover Nye County as part of their show.
Glad the homeowner was safe.
The homeowner was right to get armed AND STAY PUT behind a closed, locked?, door. He had the advantage, he knows his house and the bad guy doesn’t. When the door was kicked in the homeowner gave him two in the chest but forgot about the one in the head. Had this been a bad guy coming after a cop we would be reading about a mag dump of near fifteen rounds. Unless the guy was on the way to the floor, with the shotgun clearly out of his hands, the better choice would have been to keep shooting until… Read more »
they listen in now and take down your call sign ,sounds more like eastern europe under cold war than america
When did this happen? “9:30 at night” leaves about 150 years as possibilities.
lets keep fingers crossed for one less
IF, you are in the only bedroom with people in it….LOCK YOUR BEDROOM DOOR when you go to sleep!! Make the perp make enuff noise trying to get into your bedroom to wake you up. This story guy was fortunately already wakened.
vermont is having that and the rivers that have hydro are freezing,my sister was without power 30 hours ; glad im in florida
Sitting here in the dark. Second time in a week. “Damaged equipment “. We know what that means.
Christmas Day over 7k were out because someone vandalized a substation in Spanaway. There’s 10k+ that’s been effected last time and this time too.
Western Coastal Washington. We’re not like the metrosexuals over east in Pugetopolis. Somebody’s gonna get hurt if this continues.