Feel free to go ahead and shoot. In fact, homeowners are actively encouraged to blast any invading intruder right back down the driveway. Don’t be afraid, Santa Rosa County, Florida, Sheriff Bob Johnson advises, just pull the trigger.
Shoot first, then call
Shoot first, then call 911, the Sheriff of Santa Rosa County, Florida invites. He has a friendly message for would be burglars, don’t do it. At the same time, he cheerfully assures homeowners that they can give law enforcement a hand by executing anyone who invades their castle.
He has only one request of local Second Amendment supporters. He “wants them to improve their aim.” Avoid collateral damage, please. Gun control in his jurisdiction means hitting what you aim at.
The Sheriff dropped his controversial sound bites after his deputies hauled in another “frequent flyer.”
A whole bunch of concerned citizens dialed 911 on 4/20 to report “a suspicious person lurking in the Pace neighborhood and breaking into multiple homes.” Around 40 minutes after the first call came in, one resident decided to shoot in self-defense.
Gunfire, reports note, “was heard as a homeowner opened fire on the intruder, who fled and continued to run through the neighborhood.” Luckily for Brandon Harris, nobody at the next home he broke into tried to shoot at him. By then, police knew where he was.
“Harris was apprehended when he jumped out the window of a bedroom in a home he’d broken into and deputies were waiting there for him.” They had arrested him 17 times before. Wednesday added seven fresh felonies. Let’s go Brandon!
Only a few cuts
Despite the hail of bullets earlier, Harris wasn’t hit. He came off the loser when he tangled with a fence, though, and “came away from the arrest with just cuts.” Sheriff Johnson isn’t naming the homeowner who decided to shoot. He did ask the guy to please “come forward.” Johnson wants to buy him lunch or something.
“I guess they think they did something wrong, which they did not.” After he fled the gunfire, the suspect “basically chased a woman into her house and she had kids in her house,” the Sheriff explains. She “locked the door just in time as he got to the door and started pulling on it.”
He doesn’t want any of his citizens to have the wrong idea. “If somebody is breaking into your house, you’re more than welcome to shoot them in Santa Rosa County. We prefer that you do actually.” Dead burglars aren’t repeat offenders.
The only thing that went wrong in the case of Brandon Harris is that the homeowner missed completely, especially after firing so many shots. Ammo is expensive. Dead suspects are easy to find and wounded ones tend to leave a trail of blood and get weaker as they flee.
The Sheriff encourages everyone to continue their adult education. “We have a gun safety class that we put on every other Saturday and if you take that, you’ll shoot a lot better and hopefully you’ll save the taxpayers’ money.”
It’s gonna cost a bundle to prosecute Harris for his felony burglary spree. Now, county taxpayers will be feeding and housing him for a long, long time. “Some people don’t learn,” Johnson shrugs. “For us, he’s job security. I mean we deal with him all the time. Hopefully this time he’ll go and he won’t get out.“
