Armed home invasion left Mom feeling guilty?

Husband of wife who survived attack: 'She was the hero that night'
Good4Utah
By: Marcos Ortiz
Posted: Jun 08, 2018

PROVO, Utah (ABC4 Utah) - Hayley Peterson fought to stay alive. She didn’t want her children to be motherless.

Peterson spoke publicly for the first time after surviving a brutal attack during a home invasion at their Orem home last year. Her 4-year-old daughter was also physically attacked that night.

Rodolfo Villalobos pleaded guilty to the crime and Friday was sentenced to prison.

Prior to sentencing, Peterson addressed the court, telling the judge that she and her daughter are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from the events that night.

“I am grateful to be alive,” she told the judge. “While he was attacking me I thought I was going to be murdered. I fought like hell for my life. I had to live to protect my children.”

Her children were in the home but their father was not. He was on duty. Steve Peterson is an officer with Unified Police Department. He said it was the hardest call he ever had to take. His neighbor called him with the news.

“She was hysterical,” Peterson said. “I didn’t even recognize who she was.”

He eventually learned his wife and daughter were brutally attacked in their Orem home.

Afterward, Steve Peterson who also requested the maximum sentence said his family did achieve justice. But he also walked away knowing that his wife still regrets not being able to protect her children.

“It was extremely heartbreaking to hear that,” Peterson said. “That was probably the hardest thing today is to hear that. But by no means did she fail to protect anybody. She was truly the hero that night."
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Marine Veteran Stops Intruder Twice

Former Marine Stops Burglary, Holds Intruder at Gunpoint 
News Channel 20
Brendan Cullerton
January 29, 2016

"He did an outstanding job of defending his castle, and had the restraint to know not to shoot because he didn't feel his life was in danger at that point."

Josh Crammond said when he first heard the break in Thursday night, he thought it was his girlfriend.

"I was awake and then I heard glass break," Crammond said. "I thought she fell in the kitchen and dropped something and it scared me, and then I heard somebody kick in my door."

24-year-old Christopher Price had busted through the glass in Crammonds door, but he picked the wrong house.

"My father was a police officer, and I spent four years in the Marine Corps."

So Crammond pulled a gun on the intruder, scared him off, called 911 and went upstairs.

But Price tried breaking in again.
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Fort Bragg Soldier Returns From Afghanistan to Ransacked Home

FORT BRAGG SOLDIER'S HOME RANSACKED WHILE IN AFGHANISTAN
ABC 11 News
By Greg Barnes
Tuesday, October 14, 2014

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (WTVD) -- Sgt. Ted Peplinski couldn't wait to get back home from Afghanistan. He returned last week, and when he walked back into his home he was sickened by what he saw.

"Everything was gone," said the 82nd Airborne Sgt. "My refrigerator, my washer, my dryer, stove, everything was missing."

Peplinski says every room was ransacked. What could be taken was.

"They entered my home, went through my stuff. I felt like it's a violation of my privacy, and then they came back and stole my car," he said, of his 2004 Ford Mustang that he had left parked in the driveway.

While he was in Afghanistan fighting terrorist, thieves back home cleaned him out. He says they literally took everything but the kitchen sink.

A neighbor, who kept his eye on the soldier's home, says he believes the thieves snuck in through a backyard privacy fence, and backed a trailer to the back door. Neighbor Aaron Willis says the crime has left him and other neighbors jumpy.
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Fort Bragg Captain beaten in home invasion, after fire

FORT BRAGG SOLDIER ATTACKED IN HOME INVASION
ABC 11 News
By Nicole Carr
Monday, July 28, 2014

FAYETTEVILLE (WTVD) -- A Fort Bragg soldier is in good condition following a brutal home invasion attack.

Captain Patrick Knight was beaten by three men on Friday evening. Investigators said Knight and his girlfriend arrived to their home on the 500 block of Vista Drive just after 6:00 p.m. The couple was there to collect personal belongings. The home was in renovation due to a recent fire.

Police said Knight and his girlfriend startled three men who had broken into the house. Those men attacked Knight, beating him in the head.

Witnesses report having seen Alexander James Smith, 26, running from Knight's home in a bloody shirt. A neighbor followed Smith in a car and called a friend. That man ended up tackling Smith about a half a mile away, at the corner of Broadfoot and Branson Streets. Witnesses said Smith was covered in blood.
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Army vet's wife, 72, fends off intruder with .357 Magnum

Army vet's wife, 72, fends off intruder with .357 Magnum
Jun. 12, 2013
By Gillian Flaccus
The Associated Press

STANTON, CALIF. — A 72-year-old Southern California grandmother who shot at — and narrowly missed — a man trying to break into her home said Tuesday she was shocked at the attention her action was getting but does not regret defending herself and her husband, an 85-year-old World War II veteran who uses a wheelchair.

Jan Cooper of Anaheim fired one shot from her .357 Magnum Smith & Wesson revolver around 12:30 a.m. Sunday as a man attempted to break into her home. During a 911 call during the incident, Cooper can be heard begging with the dispatcher to send deputies and warns that she has a gun at the ready as her Rottweiler barks furiously in the background.
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Home Invasion Targets Disabled Veteran

Linked from Lew Poorman on Facebook

At Least 5 Sought After Home Invasion Targets Disabled Veteran
My FOX
Posted: May 20, 2013

PHILADELPHIA
A disabled veteran is targeted by thugs in a home invasion. It happened overnight on the 9400 block of Ashton Street in Northeast Philadelphia.

The thieves took $200-dollars and a television.

Police say the 58-year-old former Marine was roughed up, but is expected to be OK.
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Brave Mom had a gun and knew how to use it

First thought on this is BRAVO for this brave Mom and even more kudos for knowing how to hit what she was shooting at. She hit the intruder 5 times with a hand gun. The second thing is owning a gun to defend yourself and your home is not an issue. No one, including non gun owners,  have a problem with that at all. Hardly no one has a problem with hunters or sportsmen. The issue everyone is talking about are assault weapons.

This Mom is the kind of person I've been talking about. She had it and knew how to use it. That is a responsible gun owner.

Gun rights groups say Georgia home invasion proves their point
By Rich Phillips
CNN
January 11, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Last week, Melinda Herman shot an intruder in her Georgia home
She had learned to shoot only two weeks before
Her story has gained the attention of gun rights groups

Loganville, Georgia (CNN) -- This is not a movie. There's no dramatic music in the background. A happy ending, far from a guarantee.

The concern in Donnie Herman's voice was clear as day. So was his stress. With two telephones to his ear, he listened to his wife, Melinda, as she fled into an attic of their Loganville home. With her: Her two 9-year-old children and a loaded .38 revolver.

In the house: An intruder with a crowbar.

On another line was the 911 operator Donnie Herman had called for help. Herman's words to his wife, as he sat helplessly, an hour away from the home, were recorded.

"Stay in the attic," he instructed her, calmly.

"He's in the bedroom," she told him. He repeated the words to the 911 operator. "Shh. Relax," Herman said, trying to calm his wife.

Then he instructed her to do what was fast becoming a realistic possibility.

"Melinda -- if he opens up the door, you shoot him! You understand?"

What happened next has made the Hermans the new faces of the right to bear arms.

Melinda Herman fired a six-shot revolver at the intruder, hitting him five times, in his torso and in his face. Surprisingly, he managed to flee.
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92 year old WWII veteran shot intruder

WWII veteran who fatally shot intruder at his Kentucky farm home says he fired in self-defense
By Associated Press
Published: September 4

VERONA, Ky. — A 92-year-old farmer and World War II veteran who fatally shot an intruder in his Kentucky home said in an interview that he had no fear of the man and aimed “right for his heart.”

Earl Jones said he shot a man who came up the stairs and kicked open the basement door to his home early Monday in northern Kentucky’s Boone County.
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Vietnam Veteran killed saving granddaughter from thieves

Vietnam Veteran and grandfather dies saving 12-year-old granddaughter from thieves
Detroit Police are still searching for suspects
By: Kim Russell
DETROIT (WXYZ) - Detroit Police are searching for the thieves who barged into a house full of children, beat a 16-year-old with a baseball bat, then shot and killed a grandfather.

“He jumped in front of a bullet for his 12-year-old granddaughter,” said Melissa Villneff, the daughter of the man killed.

She and her brother Michael Villneff describe their father as a hero. They say 62-year-old John Villneff was a Vietnam Veteran who received two Purple Hearts. He had one son, two daughters, and 12 grandchildren.

He lived next door to his daughter’s house on Rutland on the city’s west side. His adult children were out enjoying a Tigers game. His grandchildren, who are between the ages of 10 and 16 were at home together Wednesday night when young men with guns and a bat came to their home.

Relatives say the young men attacked the 16-year-old, hitting him in the head with a baseball bat. They demanded what was inside a safe at the home. They soon learned the safe contained almost nothing of value. They then stole a Wii and an Xbox.

A 12-year-old girl at the home managed to take pictures of the suspects as they committed their crime. She then ran from the home towards her grandfather’s home next door. He came out to see what was wrong. The war veteran saw armed men coming for her, covered her, and pushed her into the safety of his home as he was shot.

He died at his home.

“I didn’t get to tell him I love him,” said Michael Villneff. “He is a hero.”
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Vietnam veteran and Mom in hospital after attack

Elderly Woman, Vietnam Vet Son Beaten In Cobbs Creek Invasion
July 31, 2012
By Nicole Brewer

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — An open heart led an elderly woman to open her door, which in turn opened her up to a brutal attack.

“Shocking, very shocking. Couldn’t understand it, don’t understand it,” said neighbor Robert Rivers.

To make matter worse, police say 87-year-old Yvonne Gaines knew the suspect, possibly an old next door neighbor, who neighbors believe asked to use her bathroom, around 3:30 Tuesday morning.

“This is a neighborhood, people trust each other. They help each other,” explained State Representative James Roebuck.
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Camp Lejeune Marines justified in killing home invaders

DA: Deaths were justified
April 28, 2012 6:15 AM
LINDELL KAY
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Prosecutors announced Friday they will not press charges against two Camp Lejeune Marines and a civilian who fought for their lives and killed two local men who were burglarizing their Jacksonville home earlier this month.

Maurice Skinner, 33, of Banks Street, and Diego M. Everette, 33, of Graytown Road, were shot and killed by residents of 107 Country Club Drive around 2 a.m. on April 15.

District Attorney Ernie Lee refused to publicly identify the residents involved in the shooting.

He said it was clear from the evidence that the state’s Castle Doctrine, which allows for deadly force in defending one’s home, and self-defense laws apply in the case.

“After investigation by the Jacksonville Police Department and reading the statements of the witnesses, it is clear that Everette’s and Skinner’s death were justified because of the actions of Everette and Skinner in burglarizing the residence and assaulting, robbing and threatening to kill the occupants of the residence,” Lee said.
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85 year old Veteran survived 3 wars, died in home invasion in Dayton OH

3-war vet from Ohio killed in home invasion

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jul 29, 2009 8:53:39 EDT

DAYTON, Ohio — Police say an 85-year-old decorated veteran of three wars has died from injuries suffered in an invasion of his home.

A neighbor found retired Army Sgt. Maj. North Woodall unconscious and bloody late Monday. Police say he was pronounced dead at the scene.
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3-war vet from Ohio killed in home invasion

Home invaders confront family, shoot teen

Home invaders confront family, shoot teen
Susan Jacobson Sentinel Staff Writer
August 13, 2008
In what investigators say appears to be a random act, a woman, her daughter and four young children were terrorized late Tuesday by home invaders who confronted them in their driveway, demanded money and shot a 15-year-old boy. The family was returning home in the 4800 block of Carter Street about 9:30 p.m. when four or five men in their 20s, dressed in black and wearing baseball caps and shirts or masks over their faces, forced them into the house, the Orange County Sheriff's Office said. Inside, the teenage boy apparently startled the men, who responded by firing several shots at him, the Sheriff's Office said. He was hit one to three times, investigators said, but his condition was unknown early today. The men ran away afterward.