24-year-old burglar meets 92-year-old vet

[ReynardMuldrake]

I bet you can guess what happens next.

VERONA — Earl Jones had just turned off his new TV shortly after 2 a.m. Monday when he heard a bang in the basement.

The 92-year-old Boone County farmer walked eight paces to get his loaded .22 caliber rifle from behind the bedroom door. He unwrapped a beige cloth and returned to the living room, sitting in a chair with clear view – and shot – of the basement door, waiting with the gun across his lap.

Some 15 minutes later, when he heard footsteps moving closer up the stairs, he raised the rifle to his eye. The intruder kicked open the door. Jones fixed his aim on the center of the man’s chest and fired a single shot. The Boone County Sheriff later announced the death of the intruder, Lloyd (Adam) Maxwell, 24, of Richmond, Ky.

“These people aren’t worth any more to me than a groundhog,” Jones told the Enquirer. “They have our country in havoc. We got so many damned crooked people walking around today.”

In Earl Jones’ mind, his actions are justified, as well. He said he was completely within his rights to defend his life and ranch home on the 500-acre farm he has worked since 1955.

“I was hoping another one would come up – I aimed right for his heart,” Jones, who served in the U.S. Army Air Forces from 1941 through ’46, told the Enquirer Monday afternoon. “I didn’t go to war for nothing. I have the right to carry a gun. That’s what I told the police this morning.”

Not long after the shooting, Kenton County Police responded to a call on Courtney Road of a man who had been shot. There they found Maxwell’s body and two uninjured men in a 2001 Chevrolet Impala who later, during questioning, would admit to being at Jones’ home on Violet Road.

The break-in was the third Jones has experienced on his farm this year. In April, thieves stole 90 head of cattle from the field behind his house. In August, burglars took from his house a television, a few thousands dollars cash and a personal check they unsuccessfully tried to cash and ripped his phone out of the wall.

“I can’t leave the damn house to do my work outside,” said Jones, removing his World War II veteran cap with his right hand and running his left through his thin white hair.

Jones has lived alone since his wife, Virginia Pearl, died in 2006. The couple had no children. Jones grew up hunting squirrels in Boone County and volunteered for the forerunner to the U.S. Air Force in 1941. He went through weapons training in the military.

He is not happy that police took the rifle used in the shooting.

“How am I going to protect myself if they come back looking for revenge?” he said.

Maxwell fell back seven steps onto a landing. Jones didn’t pursue them into the basement.

He called a neighbor and calmly said, “I need help. I just shot a man,’” he said.

At the same time, the two unhurt intruders, Dalton and Inabnit, fled Jones’ property with Maxwell’s body. Not long afterward, having driven across the county line, they called Kenton County Police with a bogus story of how Maxwell had been shot.

When Boone County Sheriff’s deputies arrived at Jones house, they found the basement door ajar and no one except Jones in the home.

Jones didn’t like how deputies treated him. “They stood down there with their guns on me, yelling, `Get your hands up! Get your hands up!’” he said. “I told them, `I’m not putting my damn hands up.’”

Finally, he did. Police approached up the long gravel driveway, flanked by a field of tobacco that Jones rents to another farmer, and questioned him.

“Was I scared? Was I mad? Hell no,” Jones said. “It was simple. That man was going to take my life. He was hunting me. I was protecting myself.”

http://nky.cincinnati.com/article/AB...xt%7CFRONTPAGE

[Tombstone RJ]

If the old man would have killed the intruder with say a 12 gage shotgun, the "authorities" would probably have charged him with excessive force. Seriously, that's how screwed up this country is getting.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by notorious

Your AR is a .22..............

No it isn't. .22 and .223 may be of comparable numeric caliber, but they're far from being the same thing. There's exponentially more powder behind a .223...

[dmahurin]

Originally Posted by Tombstone RJ

If the old man would have killed the intruder with say a 12 gage shotgun, the "authorities" would probably have charged him with excessive force. Seriously, that's how screwed up this country is getting.

Hell I wouldn't be surprised if he was tried for pre-meditated murder for sitting there for 15 minutes waiting for them to come up stairs instead of trying to leave or hide and wait for the police.

[Bwana]

Originally Posted by notorious

You guys need to see what a .22 does to skunks at that range.

I killed a lot of those bastards growing up, and it did some pretty impressive damage.

I won't even go into the number of deer I have killed with a .22 over the years. A .22 will do more damage than most people think. It also sounds like old gramps was aiming for the heart.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Bwana

I won't even go into the number of deer I have killed with a .22 over the years. A .22 will do more damage than most people think. I also sounds like old gramps was aiming for the heart.

I'd call bullshit if anybody else said this. Deerhunting with a .22?

[notorious]

Originally Posted by KC Fish

No it isn't. .22 and .223 may be of comparable numeric caliber, but they're far from being the same thing. There's exponentially more powder behind a .223...

I should know, I have 3 of them.

[Tombstone RJ]

anyone shot a .22 magnum? Lot's of fun! My friend and I were discussing the value of a .22Long and I was pretty much bitching about it saying it wasn't much of a bullet. He then brought out his .22 magnum rifle and started shooting that and I was very impressed. That thing made hella noise, BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!!

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by notorious

I should know, I have 3 of them.

His sarcasm meter must be broken.

[Nickel D]

Jones: "He was hunting me."

Fudd: "Silly wabbit! Evwee wun knows it's duck season!"

[Tombstone RJ]

Originally Posted by dmahurin

Hell I wouldn't be surprised if he was tried for pre-meditated murder for sitting there for 15 minutes waiting for them to come up stairs instead of trying to leave or hide and wait for the police.

yep. I can here the DA now saying to the old man "you mean you just waited for the guy to open the door? Why didn't you call the police? Why didn't you run and hide in the closet? Why didn't you first try to talk to the "victom" before you started firing?"

seriously, this is how our "justice" system works.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by frazod

His sarcasm meter must be broken.

Mine breaks from time to time. Sometimes it is hard to seperate sarcasm from dumbassery (especially my own).

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by notorious

Mine breaks from time to time. Sometimes it is hard to seperate sarcasm from dumbassery (especially my own).

That is a mighty fine line.

[Bwana]

Originally Posted by frazod

I'd call bullshit if anybody else said this. Deerhunting with a .22?

Yep, seriously, it will drop them like a rock. If you hit them in the head, drop, if you hit them in the heart, most of the time they drop right away, if not, they don't go far. After seeing what a .22 would do to deer on a regular basis, I gained a lot more respect for a .22.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by Bwana

Yep, seriously, it will drop them like a rock. If you hit them in the head, drop, if you hit them in the heart, most of the time they drop right away, if not, they don't go far. After seeing what a .22 would do to deer on a regular basis, I gained a lot more respect for a .22.

I have to ask........is this legal?

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Bwana

Yep, seriously, it will drop them like a rock. If you hit them in the head, drop, if you hit them in the heart, most of the time they drop right away, if not, they don't go far. After seeing what a .22 would do to deer on a regular basis, I gained a lot more respect for a .22.

I've just never seen it, or even heard about it. I knew a few people who'd hunt with scoped revolvers or 12 gauge slugs, but mostly it was 30-06s or 308s.