Armed man fatally shot at Tennessee high school

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. — An armed man was fatally shot by deputies Monday at an east Tennessee high school after he went inside and pointed a gun at the principal’s head, a sheriff said.

Well done, deputies!

But there’s another interesting tidbit:

[The gun man] Cowan entered the school with a .380-caliber semiautomatic and a .25-caliber handgun in his back pocket, Anderson said. The sheriff said that after Cowan grabbed the principal, Melanie Riden, and pointed the semiautomatic at her head, student resource officer Carolyn Gudger pulled her gun on Cowan and moved the principal to safety. [emphasis Murdoc's]

What sounds like a bit of a standoff followed, and deputies shot Cowan after he pointed his gun at Gudger.

Not only did an armed individual prevent a school attack, but the deputies didn’t seem to have trouble knowing who the good guys and the bad guys were. We keep being told that armed people in schools won’t help and will just make it tougher for the authorities to do their jobs.

Minnesota Vikings Cheerleader Meghan Anderson, a St. Cloud, Minn., native, tries on a Soldier's equipment while visiting 501st Military Police Company, 1st Armored Division, at Camp Victory, May 20. The cheerleaders are touring bases in Iraq to talk with service members and civilians to bring them a feeling of home. Photo by Sgt. Phillip Valentine.

Looks like she might be okay on trigger discipline here, but not so much in the photo below.

Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders visit Soldiers assigned to the kennels of 501st Military Police Company, 1st Armored Division, at Camp Victory, May 20. The cheerleaders took time to talk to service members and take photos with them to help build morale and lift their spirits. They also participated in a military working dog demonstration, which included take-down techniques and obedience skills. Photo by Sgt. Phillip Valentine.

Wonder why the soldiers haven’t noticed the violation?

Suspect in machete attack regrets girl’s survival

Having “wanted to kill someone for a long time,” Christopher Gribble picked a house at random and used a machete to kill a woman sleeping in her bed. The woman’s daughter, 11, was also attacked and left for dead. The killer expressed disappointment that the girl survived “because now she has to live with this.”

The killer claims to be disappointed that he didn’t feel any emotion after killing the woman.

Three others invaded the home with Gribble. They cut the house’s power before entering. The woman’s husband was away, though I don’t think the invaders knew that. They just picked a house and went for it.

Christmas present comes in handy:

A teen trying to rob an espresso stand in northern Idaho met his match in a gun-toting barista.

Police say the 17-year-old confronted Sunshine Espresso owner Michelle Cornelson with a gun Wednesday morning, demanding all her money.

Plans, however, often don’t survive first contact with the enemy. This victim was armed with a Kel-Tec her husband had given her for Chirstmas. Robbers hate that sort of thing, so he ran. He was quickly caught.

Columbus, Ohio:

When an armed robber barged into a North Side motel room Wednesday night and ordered the six people there to the floor, he put a 70-year-old woman closer to her handgun.

The great-grandmother knelt between the beds, reached into her purse on the floor and pulled out her .357 Magnum pistol.

She fired one shot at the robber, who staggered from the room, collapsed in the parking lot and died.

Gun store posters take flak
For more than a week, a local gun shop owner has been under scrutiny regarding certain advertisements outside his front door.

Nashville Guns owner Dennis Nielsen has been met with the watchful eyes of a few county officials and town residents for the storefront posters of women holding guns. Facing two documented complaints, Nielsen maintains that he has done nothing wrong and runs a clean business.

Facing the Washington Street sidewalks are two posters inside of Nielsen’s gun shop windows. The first poster shows a model with blond-streaked hair in a black dress holding an AR-15 rifle, with the second picture of the same model holding a .357 magnum pistol. Inside his shop, similar posters are attached to the walls, showing the same model holding different weapons.

The photos in the news story don’t appear to be risque in the slightest.

Forest Grove, Oregon:

Police have arrested a man after a woman was sexually assaulted in her own home in Forest Grove, just west of the Portland suburb of Hillsboro.

Floyd Dale Elliott faces rape and burglary charges after being accused of entering the victim’s home in the middle of the night last month. Police said he then tried to rape her.

The woman reportedly grabbed a gun, hidden near her bed, and started firing.

The gun was a 22-caliber rifle. She apparently didn’t hit the intruder. Here’s a bit of a weird update on the story:

Police tell KATU that Elliott did not break in, as other media has reported. Police said the house was unlocked and the suspect let himself in. A burglary charge still applies, since he was not supposed to be there. Police said this is important to note so people in Forest Grove “aren’t thinking some crazy guy is breaking into houses and trying to rape women.” [emphasis in original]

Don’t panic, folks. There’s no crazy guy breaking into homes to rape women. It’s just a crazy guy letting himself in to homes to rape women.

I guess I’m a bit confused about the difference.

Either way, the gun should help deter the crazy guy.

A handout image obtained on September 10, 2009, from Britain's Ministry of Defence shows a female Afghan National Police (ANP) officer receiving weapons training on a Smith & Wesson Sigma 9 mm pistol. The first thirteen female ANP recruits will soon be joining their male counterparts. (HANDOUT/AFP/Getty Images)

From this photo gallery.

Detroit:

A 43-year-old woman shot and killed a suspected purse snatcher who confronted her at a northwest Detroit gas station this morning, according to police.

Two men approached the Detroit woman at about 5:30 a.m. at the Schoolcraft and Southfield Mobil station, Detroit Police spokesman John Roach said. The woman is licensed to legally carry a gun for self-defense, he said.

“They didn’t realize she has a CCW (license), so she had a weapon of her own,” Roach said. “She fired several rounds at the suspects and they fled.”

The pair made off with the woman’s purse. But about a half-hour later, a man with several gunshot wounds went to Sinai-Grace Hospital for treatment and died later this morning.

A teenage girl says she killed a militant with his own gun after insurgents attacked their home in Indian-administered Kashmir

Some guy wanted to marry 18-year-old Rukhsana Kauser against her will and the will of her family. So he and some buddies showed up and beat the family senseless.

Then they were shown an example of how self-defense is a mind-set:

“I thought I should try the bold act of encountering militants before dying.”

So she came out of her hiding place and “encountered” them by beating one’s head against the wall, taking his rifle, and opening fire. The gun battle she and her brother fought against the militants apparently went on for hours.

The guy was militant commander Abu Osama, a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba, which probably has a a new job posting going up today.