Man with concealed-carry permit kills robbery suspect in Cleveland

[error]

CLEVELAND (AP)?A man who has a permit to carry a concealed gun shot and killed one of two teenage robbery suspects he encountered on his front porch, police said.

City prosecutors decided yesterday that the 25-year-old Cleveland man was justified and would not be charged in the shooting Saturday night of 15-year-old Arthur Buford, a freshman at John F. Kennedy High School.

Buford and another teen approached the man on his porch and one of the youths pulled a gun, prompting the resident to pull his gun and shoot Buford several times in the chest, police said.

Police took a .40-caliber Smith and Wesson from the man as evidence, according to a police report.

Toby Hoover, director of the Toledo-based Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, said she had not heard of any other fatal shooting involving someone who has a permit to carry a concealed gun under the state's 3-year-old law.

About 30 youths gathered Monday at the intersection where Buford died and set up a memorial. His cousin, Tameka Foster, 21, questioned the decision against prosecuting the shooter.

"They let that man run out freely," Foster said. "My cousin is dead."

Buford's alleged accomplice fled after and shooting and has not been caught. Police believe a .38-caliber handgun they found in the mail chute of a nearby house belonged to Buford or the other suspect, Lt. Thomas Stacho said.

[SpeedPhreak]

All I have to say on this was poor kid & poor home owner.

How many of us made stupid errors when we were 15 & lived to tell about it?  Sadly the home owner didn't really have a choice once that kid chose to pull a gun.

Tameka Foster, however needs to wake her ignorant ass up & walk a mile in the other mans shoes.  Sure - I, as most of us, can feel her sadness... but that doesnt doesn't justify her cousins actions.  The shooter was perfectly w/in his sovereign right to defend himself & his property.

[KBCraig]

How many of us made stupid errors when we were 15 & lived to tell about it?

This wasn't his first "error": he was on probation for aggravated robbery.

In a quirk of Ohio law, the homeowner was only able to legally carry concealed on his front porch because he had a license. In most states you can carry any way you'd like on your own property. He could have carried openly on his porch without a license per OH law, but not concealed.

As testament to what was really wrong in this situation, shrines have been erected to the dead thug, while the homeowner's windows have been smashed.


http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/regina_brett/index.ssf?/base/opinion/117749066813670.xml&coll=2

No sympathy for thug culture
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Regina Brett
Plain Dealer Columnist

There's a sheet of tributes taped to a red brick wall.

There's a utility pole covered in glittery balloons.

There's a pile of teddy bears resting not far from where 15-year-old Arthur Buford died on the sidewalk.

But there's no debate over concealed-carry laws.

A debate would be as unnecessary as the tributes posted to honor a teen who went looking for trouble and found it.

Damon Wells, 25, was sitting on his own porch Saturday night. It's a long, narrow gray porch with a wicker chair at the end. The house sits near Kinsman Road and East 134th Street in Cleveland.

He was minding his own when two teens tried to rob him. The plan backfired. When Wells saw one kid pull a gun, he drew his own Smith & Wesson and blasted away.

It's sad that a delinquent died on the sidewalk.

It would have been sadder if a law-abiding homeowner had died on his porch.

Wells had no criminal record.

Buford, a freshman at John F. Kennedy High School, was still on probation. Last year he committed an aggravated robbery.

Three years ago, Ohio made it legal to carry a concealed weapon. Wells had a permit to carry the gun. Back when Second Amendment advocates argued for that right, they warned people: Don't carry a gun unless you plan to use it if your life is threatened.

The Smith & Wesson could be credited for saving Wells' life, but it didn't protect his home.

After the shooting, someone smashed in his front windows. The house looks deserted now, with sheets of plywood nailed over the windows and front door.

Ever since the shooting, people have stopped at the nearby memorial to scrawl messages honoring Buford.

"God gave me a new angel man . . . Why Da Good Die Young . . . I'll see you in eternity . . . You are with the Lord and we happy for that."

One woman walked by with her toddler. She set a teddy bear in the pile of stuffed animals and scrawled a message on the sign. Her little boy pointed and squealed at the balloons dancing in the wind until she pulled him away.

Others drove by and stopped to tie more heart-shaped balloons to the pole.

Buford's cousin had grumbled to one reporter about the shooter being allowed to run free.

Wells killed the teen Saturday. City prosecutors cleared Wells on Monday, calling the shooting justified. Which leads me to wonder: Why does it take so long to clear police officers when they fire in self-defense?

At least no one can cry race this time. Both the shooter and dead teen are black.

I can't bring myself to call Buford the victim of a shooting. He was the instigator of one.

His family should be ashamed of his actions and apologize to the man he tried to rob.

Two weeks ago, a report came out that examined Cleveland's 389 homicides from 1998 to 2002. The conclusion?

"Homicides in Cleveland are overwhelmingly intra-racial in nature, with black offenders killing black victims."

The majority of victims were black males; the majority of killers were black males.

If there is any debate here, it shouldn't be about gun control.

It should be about thug control.

[penguins4me]

Some logically challenged people are also doing the same thing for the "thirty-third Virginia Tech 'victim'". There is a substantial subset of people in this country whose sense of right and wrong is horribly skewed - backwards, even.

As for "mistakes", I made absolutely stupid mistakes when I was in my teens, but I've never, ever considered threatening someone with a firearm (as opposed to other lethal, but less obviously so, weapons) to be something as simple or trivial as a "mistake".

I do, however, feel sorry for the homeowner: he didn't ask for this, he likely is having to work through a bunch of emotional issues over killing the thug, on top of people busting up his place afterwards.

[David]

Cleveland is screwed up.  The shooter should be thankful they 'only' took his defense, his gun.  They sometimes arrest you until you are cleared of the crime. 

[Quantrill]

Maybe that guy should move to NH...

[SpeedPhreak]

i am certainly not defending or condoning the actions of the dead kid.  chances are he would have continued down this path & ended up killing someone or people one day.  i am just illustrating the fact that he was young dumb & full of * & wont get a chance to make up for his wrongs later in life like many of us have.  i can understand the grieving of the teens friends & family but the shrine is a bit over board IMO.

i am also saying i would have done the exact same thing in this situation & i am glad the prosecution see's the situation for what it is.

i for one would be glad to room w/this guy if we both make it to NH.  He is probably going to have to move anyway to escape the backlash he is already facing... if he isnt the victim of a drive by 1st.

[MaineShark]

i am certainly not defending or condoning the actions of the dead kid.  chances are he would have continued down this path & ended up killing someone or people one day.  i am just illustrating the fact that he was young dumb & full of * & wont get a chance to make up for his wrongs later in life like many of us have.  i can understand the grieving of the teens friends & family but the shrine is a bit over board IMO.

If "aggravated robbery" means what it usually means, that "kid" already pulled a gun on someone and demanded money, before.  Should have been executed at that point, preferrably by his intended victim...

If someone is old enough to kill, he's old enough to be killed.

Joe

[SpeedPhreak]

you are right

maybe kid is a bad choice of words.  i believe by the time you are a teenager you (should) know enough to know right from wrong & are able to make decisions for yourself & if you choose to do as he did then he has to accept the possible out come.

i am just saying it is sad it had to happen