By Cam Edwards Bearing Arms
A pair of home invaders got more than they bargained for when they targeted a home in Casper, Wyoming last month, and were ultimately sent fleeing when one of their intended victims pulled a gun.
Police were called out to the home just before 11 a.m. on November 18th on reports of a break-in. When they arrived the suspects were nowhere in sight, but the homeowners had a heckuva story to relay to the officers on scene. The male homeowner told police his daughter woke him up to let him know that there was someone knocking on the front door, but before he could get there he heard a loud banging sound. When he opened the door to his bedroom he found two strangers standing in the hallway, and one of them pounced on the homeowner.
As the male homeowner was fighting with one of the suspects in the living room, his wife took the opportunity to arm herself and protect her loved ones.
Meanwhile, the mom of the family snuck past the two men, went into the bedroom and grabbed the family pistol. She returned and pointed it at the suspects. In her later interview, an investigator noted that she was visibly pregnant.
Faced with the expectant mother with a gun, both suspects fled.
The pair’s minor daughter witnessed the break-in and her mother’s self-defense gesture from the back bedroom, says the affidavit.
When investigators arrived, the dad said he hadn’t washed his hands or body. He’d been wearing shorts during the fight and the suspects hadn’t been wearing gloves, he said.
So an evidence technician obtained swabs from the dad’s left hand, fingernails and from a scratch on his back.
The man also had a small, bleeding gouge to the left side of his face, says the affidavit.
Thanks to surveillance footage from the family’s doorbell camera, police were able to quickly identify the two suspects as 35-year-old Daniel Charles Hemmer and 40-year-old Joel Wilson, both Casper residents who were apparently known to local law enforcement. Hemmer was taken into custody and told the arresting officers that Wilson had invited him to come along as he robbed a “drug house”, but when the pair busted through the front door of the home Hemmer realized they’d targeted a “regular family” instead.
Hemmer claimed he remained near the front door and watched Wilson get into a “tangle” with the male resident.
But these people didn’t look like drug dealers – they looked like a regular family, Hemmer later told Detective Elhart.
The man and Wilson tumbled onto the couch. The pregnant woman went behind them and it looked like she “cocked something,” so Hemmer ran, hopping into his car and putting it in drive. Just then, Wilson ran up, hit the car’s hood with his fist and got into the passenger seat. They reportedly drove away and went back to Hemmer’s apartment.
Both men are now facing the possibility of decades behind bars, while the family they targeted managed to escape with just a few minor injuries to the husband and father who first encountered the home invaders. Like the vast majority of defensive gun uses, this armed citizen didn’t need to pull the trigger to de-escalate the situation. The sight of the pistol in her hand was enough to send the bad guys scrambling.
Find the original article in its entirety on Bearing Arms.
