And this came just weeks after a good guy with a gun was arrested for firing back at car thieves.
This latest incident unraveled early on May 22. It began when Terrance Montgomery, one of the apartment residents, was called by a neighbor who informed him that someone was attempting to steal his girlfriend’s car.
Apparently, this was not the first time, as the Hyundai was taken once before but then recovered.
Montgomery acted quickly, grabbing his firearm and bolting outside to confront the thieves. “They open[ed] fire, shooting out my neighbor’s window,” he recounted later. “I shot back two or three times.”
That obviously startled neighbor was Cedric Verner, who said the gunshots narrowly missed his family. The bullets sailed through the apartment and “almost kill[ed] my kids by inches while they were lying in bed asleep.”
Verner did what any law-abiding citizen who was prepared would do when under attack. “I grabbed my gun…and returned fire.” Neither of these men instigated the frightening encounter with the violent criminals, but now they face a dire consequence for acting in self-defense.
The leasing company, Avery Park, sent letters telling them they had been evicted. They had only three days to leave their homes.
The company said they had become a nuisance and a threat to others’ safety. It is inconceivable that a logical person would consider the victims of a violent attack that was completely unprovoked as a threat to the safety of their neighbors, but that’s the world we live in.
Verner said a property manager told him that residents are prohibited from blocking anyone from entering the property and attempting to steal anything.
There’s no word on their stand on protecting your innocent children when a violent criminal is shooting into your home.
Thankfully, both men are challenging the evictions by forcing Avery Park to go through the civil court process to evict them. If there is any justice, it is highly likely that both will stay at their current addresses for a long time to come.
Another incident in Shelby County last month highlighted the skewed way the legal system handles those who are defending their lives and property.
Video from the scene showed several young people gathered around cars outside of home at around 2 a.m. on a Saturday morning. According to officials, these suspected car thieves had burglary tools and key fob programmers that they utilized to enter a van parked outside of the residence.
The family inside was alerted to their presence by security cameras, and a man exited the home to confront the criminals. Gunshots immediately rang out in the night.
One of the alleged thieves reportedly shot at the homeowner from behind a vehicle as he was standing under his porch light. Then another two rounds were fired, according to security video, and the man returned fire three times. He then fired four more times in the direction of the would-be car thieves.
They then fled.
The homeowner’s wife said it was her husband who was treated like a criminal when law enforcement arrived. “When they were talking to him, from what I saw, it was like they were trying to find ways to charge him. That doesn’t sound right. Why would you put pressure on the victim when you should put pressure for the suspects to be found?”
The would-be victim told deputies that he could not see who he was firing at because their car was slightly behind his van they were allegedly attempting to steal. He also admitted to closing his eyes while shooting, a sure sign of panic but hardly a crime when being shot at by violent criminals.
His home and his neighbor’s had bullet holes after the incident, and the homeowner was charged with reckless endangerment.
Something is in the water in Shelby County, Tennessee. The right to self-defense is as basic as the right to breathe, and both cases will hopefully quickly fall in favor of the residents who protected themselves and their loved ones.
