From today's paper:

Tuesday January 4, 2005

Police say man sang, wielded hatchet during robbery attempt

by CANDICE BOSELY

martinsburg@herald-mail.com

A Martinsburg man charged with breaking into a couple's home on New Year's Eve, holding them at gunpoint for more than an hour and making one of them play the piano remains in jail awaiting a court appearance, according to court records.

Paul Kelvin Hardy, 40, of 46 Wilson St., was charged with armed robbery, nighttime burglary and wanton endangerment with a firearm.

Hardy - who police said accidentally shot himself in the leg, ending the ordeal - was being held in Eastern Regional Jail on a $95,000 cash-only bail, according to records filed in Berkeley County Magistrate Court.

Martinsburg Police Department Sgt. John Sherman and Patrolman Michael St. Clair investigated. According to a two-page criminal complaint filed by St. Clair, a couple who lives at 665 Winchester Ave. was watching television at around 9 p.m. Friday when a man walked down their stairs carrying a gun in one hand and a hatchet in the other.

The man told the couple, Annie Laura Fogle and Everett Fogle, to lie on the floor and pointed the gun at them, records allege. Annie Fogle felt a gun pressed to the back of her head by the man, who told the couple not to look at him, records state.

After the man demanded money, Annie Fogle walked into a back room and gave the robber $540, police said.

The Fogles were ordered to sit on a couch. At that time, the robber used the hatchet to break a phone in their house, police said.

When the robber requested and was given a plastic bag, he filled it with guns he had taken from the couple's upstairs bedroom, police said.

The robber then made an unusual demand, police said.

"Mr. Hardy then asked Mr. Fogle who played the piano. Mr. Fogle stated he does. Mr. Hardy then told Ms. and Mr. Fogle to go into the room with the piano. Mr. Fogle then played two songs for Mr. Hardy and while Mr. Fogle was playing the piano, Mr. Hardy was singing along.

"Once the songs were finished, Mr. Hardy asked Ms. Fogle if they wanted him to order any pizza, Ms. Fogle stated no," according to the criminal complaint.

Back in the living room, the robber began to tell the couple about the bullets in his gun, which he said were special because "they tear the insides up," police said.

Moments later, while "still playing with the gun," the robber shot himself once in the left leg, prompting the couple to call police at 10:32 p.m., police said.

When police arrived, Hardy was sitting on the couple's couch, leaning against Everett Fogle, police said.

Police seized a Colt .45-caliber handgun that was on a couch cushion, a hatchet and $540 from Hardy's pocket, records state.

Police said Hardy entered the couple's home by breaking into a shed in their back yard and taking out a ladder. He leaned the ladder against the home's second-floor balcony, police said.

Conviction on a charge of armed robbery carries a sentence of a minimum of 10 years in prison; conviction on a charge of nighttime burglary carries a sentence of one to 15 years in prison; and conviction on a charge of wanton endangerment with a firearm carries a sentence of one to five years in prison.

Copyright The Herald-Mail

I know exactly what this guy's problem is.

He's watched Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange too many times.

I love it. That is some funny stuff.

The sad part is the last paragraph of the article is probably not true. I doubt the guy does 10 years even if convicted.

Must be on drugs. Sadly, I fear Snoopy is right.

Hmm, can we check all that apply? I vote insane and on drugs!

ditto that for me
It's a shame that you can't even feel safe in your own home anymore

That's my idea of a fun New Years Eve...get robbed and sit around the piano and sing with the criminal, maybe even have a little pizza...NOT!

Unfortunately, I read stories most every month about criminals invading occupied homes. But most of the stories I read have a good ending -- the homeowner brandishes a gun and either chases off the bad guy, wounds them, or kills them. Yes, it don't always work that way, but I like to see good news now and again.

Are those news stories posted in the monthly NRA newsletter?

And what happens when the intruder also brandishes a gun? A gun fight?

As a matter of fact...yes, their magazine "The American Hunter" and "The American Rifleman" has such stories from US newspapers in there every month. For folks who choose to arm themselves and not be helpless victims they often save themselves or others when confronted by attackers.

Examples here:

84-year-old Clyde Colley was at his Dickenson County, Va., home when two armed men entered. While one of the men held him at gunpoint, the other ransacked the house. After the intruder holding Colley shot him in the leg, Colley retrieved his own .38-cal. pistol, and opened fire, killing one of the suspects. The other fled and was later arrested. (Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond, VA, 12/24/04)

Lori Bowers' beagle, Pete, began barking shortly after noon one day while his owner slept in her Harney, Maryland, home following her night job. When Bowers awoke, she heard noises other than those made by her pet. Going to investigate, she saw a man in her living room attempting to disconnect her videocassette recorder. "I own a .45 pistol, and back in my bedroom I cocked [it] and he heard [the sound]." The man, realizing the homeowner was about to get the drop on him, took off so fast he ran right through Bowers' screen door. Police later arrested two men driving a truck--full of stolen property--that matched the description given to them by Bowers.

http://www.nraila.org//issues/articles/read.aspx?id=30

http://www.nraila.org/ArmedCitizen/Default.aspx

That's awesome!

That's kind of funny, although if it happened to me I'd be scared sh*tless. It seems like robbery has been on the rise in the area lately.

AAaahhh yes, warms the cockles of my heart.

I realize you're being cynical, but I consider it a good ending when an 84 year old man, shot by two armed intruders in his own home, was able to save his own life, and who knows how many others, by killing one of them and chasing the other one off to be arrested. I don't delight in killing, but anyone with a shread of sense would realize this is very justifiable homocide and a case where the good guy wins. If you would choose to behave differently if you were the one attacked, it's your life, do as you please.

Snoopy - I understand that this is a case where the "good guy" wins - and I also understand it was justifiable homicide. However, given the following statistics, IMO having a gun in the house is just not worth it. ESPECIALLY if young children are in the home.

THE RISKS OF GUNS IN THE HOME (Source)

In 2002, 30,242 people were killed by guns in America - 83 people a day - including 17,108 suicides; 11,829 homicides; and 762 unintentional or accidental shootings.[1]

A gun kept in the home is 22 times more likely to be used in an unintentional shooting (4 times), a criminal assault or homicide (7 times), or an attempted or completed suicide (11 times) than to be used to injure or kill in self-defense.[2]

40-43% percent of households own guns. This means that an approximately 44 million Americans own an estimated 192 million firearms.[3]

One out of three handguns is kept loaded and unlocked.[4]

Nearly all childhood unintentional shooting deaths occur in or around the home. Fifty percent occur in the home, and 40% occur in the home of a friend.[5]

When someone is home, a gun is used for protection in fewer than two percent of home invasion crimes.6[6]
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I don't want to get into a big gun debate with you, because I know that this is the one subject that you are especially passionate about. I'm just stating my opinion, and viewpoint - which I happen to know I am in the minority on this board - and that's fine.

Phish,

Do what you want regarding gun ownership, believe what you want, just don't try to prevent me from doin' the same and we'll be just fine. But I can't let your misleading "statistics" from the often proven wrong Brady campaign stand alone, so here are some of mine:

Gun ownership is at an all-time high, but gun crime is at the lowest level in decades.

Firearm-related deaths have decreased every year since 1993. Overall, they have decreased 49% since 1993.

Firearm accident deaths have been decreasing for decades. Since 1930, the annual number of firearm accident deaths has decreased 76%, while the U.S. population has more than doubled and the number of guns has quintupled. Among children, such deaths have decreased 84% since 1975.

Firearm accident deaths are at an all-time low, among the entire U.S. population and among children. In 2000, there were 776 firearm accident deaths, including 86 among children.

The firearm accident death rate is at an all-time low -- 0.3 per 100,000 population. It has declined 92% since the all-time high in 1904.

Firearms are involved in only 1% of all deaths, and in only 1% of deaths among children.

Firearms are involved in only 0.8% of accidental deaths. Most accidental deaths involve, or are due to, motor vehicles (43%), falls (13%), poisoning (13%), suffocation (6%), drowning (3%), fires (3%), medical mistakes (3%), and environmental factors (2%).

Among children, firearms are involved in only 1.5% of accidental deaths. Most accidental deaths among children involve, or are due to, motor vehicles (45%), drowning (16%), suffocation (14%), fires (10%), poisoning (1.6%), environmental factors (1.4%), falls (1.4%), and medical mistakes (1.2%).
___________
Any accidental death, espcially involving children, is tragic. But guns play a very small, and getting smaller, role in this, and most gun groups pay out big dollars for child safety education.

I've been thinking about getting a gun. I have a peeping tom. No, it's not Yoss.

And where did you get your "statistics"? The NRA?




Heather - have you reported this to the cops? Have you seen the guy?

Yeah I saw him. Then he knocked on my door and explained that he wasn't stalking me and wanted me to be able to sleep at night. I hadn't recognized him through the window, but he's the same guy that knocked on my door last week and said he had the wrong address. No, I didn't call the cops because he's young and seems pretty harmless and I'm not quite convinced that his intentions are sinister. What do you think?

When he knocked on your door the second time, what was his purpose then? The first time he said he had the wrong address, but I don't understand his purpose the 2nd time.

Heather, if you've seen him repeatedly, do not hesitate to call the cops. If he's there when you call, dial 9-1-1 -- that is definitely an emergency.

Just because he knocked on your door and said don't be afraid (strange), that's reason to be afraid. Well, maybe not afraid, but cautious.

Please, don't take chances with strange people. Please....

FWIW, I agree Heather. This guy is either one very strange but harmless nut or... maybe not so harmless. Listen to Yoss, he's been there (well, maybe not as a peeping Tom, but you know what I mean ). Don't take chances. Call the cops the next time, and in the interim keep your doors locked and be alert. Get some potent pepper spray (www.counterassault.com/ Bear_Deterrent/bear_deterrent.html or something over a million SCU's in "heat") or a gun -- whatever you are comfortable with. The pepper spray is easier to carry legally when you go out. But do not ignore this guy.

PS -- If you do decide to get a gun, Yoss or I will be happy to give any advice or answer any questions you might have. There are lots of things to consider.

He said he knew he startled me and wanted me to know he wasn't "stalking me or anything". When I had seen him staring back I had jumped up and turned out the light and left the room, so he knew I saw him and was startled.

But he's actually in his own bedroom when he's looking. I'm in a second floor half house. My computer room has one window that faces the building next to me. Our windows are parallel, at the same level.

When I first moved in over a year ago, the blinds were always shut the whole way on that window. I started noticing that different slats were misplaced at different times. I figured there was a pet nosing out the window or something. Then one day I caught one of the slats snapping back into order as if someone was looking and then saw me look and well...I thought I was overreacting.

Recently the blinds are pulled partly up and I can see that there is a bed shoved against the window with no headboard to block the window. When I saw him, he was lying on his bed, square in the middle of the window, staring at me with his hand propping his head up.

I don't want to overreact and get an innocent pipsqueak in trouble. He doesn't seem very menacing, but the fact that he's been at my door twice is troubling and either he's very cocky or very genuinly mistaken and apologetic.

I need to just get my blinds fixed and keep the window blocked. My blinds on that window won't stay up because the plaster walls around the window are crumbling away and the screws won't stay in. Plus that's one of the cats favorite windows to look out and watch traffic, (and watch the peeper too I guess). They paw at the blinds and mess 'em up anyhow.

Creepy! I guess if I were in your position, first thing I'd do is get some kind of covering over the window asap (nail a tapestry over the window - the cat can still get in there).

I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I personally wouldn't run out and get a gun. IMHO, I don't think guns solve all problems, but if it makes you feel safer, then whatever floats your boat. I think I'd probably see if anything else happens, and if warranted, call the cops. I wouldn't like the feeling of being "watched" though - I'd get those blinds up as soon as possible.

By the way, I've had the same problem lately with plaster walls. You know you can get filler for the plaster?

Report him to the cops, Heather. Better to keep yourself safe than to worry about his feelings. Trust your gut - there's something not right there.

I'd be careful. Could be harmless but these days its not worth taking that chance.
Maybe you could get Yoss or Snoop to come over and sit in front of the window for a couple of hours cleaning their guns If that doesn't get the point across maybe
its time to go gun shopping

Heather, when you catch him looking, maybe you could try picking your nose or some other equally unattractive behavior!

I do not blame you for not wanting to make a big deal over it, but please use caution and your best judgement.

Maybe you should come and take Karate, I find it is safer than having firearms laying around and way more healthy!

PM me if you would like some info for some classes that are just beginning in Hagerstown.

Safer? Not true. You could pull a muscle doin' that karate stuff! I never pulled a muscle watchng my gun lay around.

[quote=Snoopy,Jan 6 2005, 02:28 PM][/quote]
Safer? Not true. You could pull a muscle doin' that karate stuff! I never pulled a muscle watchng my gun lay around. [/quote]


On a more serious note to Heather, the guy may just have a little crush on you and like watching you sit at your computer...but I agree with Phish, hang something in that window!

Harmless or not, the guy seems creepy! Can you bring your big dog over to keep you company for a while? My dogs have always been my protectors

Guns are well and good....

BUT!

Unless you have weeks of training with the firearm, and fired it a substantial number of times to become completely familiar with it, and have learned all the safety precautions you should take with the firearm, and if you decide to use a firearm in self-defense YOU MUST BE COMMITTED TO USING IT. You never point a gun at someone to invoke fear... you point a firearm at someone because you INTEND ON KILLING THEM.

If you are not committed on killing someone, then the gun will be taken away from you, and you will be the one killed.

while I am a strong advocate for handgun ownership, and wear and carry concealed, I do not recommend a firearm for people who are not committed to the above points.

Any self-defense requires an absolute devotion to the method you choose. It must come as second nature, you should not have to think about it, and you have to act fast. Indecision is it's own worst enemy.

Stepping off my soapbox now.


Heather, just flash him and be done with it...

"Heather, just flash him and be done with it... "



After that he'll be showing up at your door with flowers!

Does it work? Sure sounds like something I could use.

I actually thought of that. Have dad come over and clean his guns in plain view. I'd stand in the window holding a shotgun and cock it with one hand all cool like they do in the movies.



I have a green belt from a couple of years ago. My ex-boyfriend was my instructor. I'd love to get back into it but I'm afraid I don't have enough time in my schedule to devote to it. Full time job and part time college student. Thanks for the invite though!

Oh yes. And I pulled many. I could kick the space beside my own head. Just the thought of it hurts me nowadays. Bruises, cracked open feet from turning and spinning on the mats, over-extended limbs, had the air knocked outta me...but I liked it.



Not possible. He's seen me without makeup and hair done twice.

I miss that a lot...having protective big ass dogs around that bark to alert you of any presence and intimidate strangers. It wouldn't be reasonable to have him over. He's too big for the place and he'd give my cats a coronary...on second thought...



Maybe I'll just get a baseball bat then, Yoss. Or a chainsaw... ::evil grin::

And no, I'm not going to flash him. I told my friend yesterday that I was going to moon him and press my buttcheeks up against the window and then turn around and give him the finger. They didn't think it was funny....I wasn't serious, of course.

Thanks for all your concern and advice, everyone. I will be careful and keep you posted.

yipes Heather that gives me the goosebumps!
I would freak if I knew someone had been watching me like that!
Please be careful & don't ever hesitate to call the police!

LOL at Yoss as "Dirty Harry".

Vigilante Justice: ya gotta love it!

Make my day...

No, no, no, B. There's a big difference between Harry and Yoss. Harry used a S&W .44 Magnum revolver. Yoss uses a .357 Sig semi-auto. Harry wore a suit jacket, Yoss doesn't. Now, other than that...