Daily update August 31

Washington: Watchman fires at car
Longview Daily News

"What was initially reported as a "drive-by shooting" early Monday morning turned out to be a shot fired in a quite different circumstance. Longview police were dispatched a few minutes after midnight after a young man called from his home in Longview, reporting that someone in a brown van shot at his vehicle when he and two passengers were driving around in the area of the Mint Farm. "There wasn't any warning," the 22-year-old driver said Monday evening. "There aren't any 'no trespassing' signs out there." .... Police checked out the Mint Farm area and spoke with the night watchman of a truck-driving school, Duscha said. The watchman told police that he saw a vehicle driving recklessly in the parking lot and cutting cookies on the property. He said he thought the vehicle was going to run him over, so he fired his handgun, Duscha said. No one was injured." (08/30/05)

http://www.tdn.com/articles/2005/08/30/area_news/news04.txt

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New Jersey: Store owner shoots thief in legs
Trentonian

"A township liquor store owner hid inside in the darkness early yesterday and confronted a brazen burglar, hitting him with pepper spray, then shooting him in the legs. Though the suspect, Patrick Falcey, managed to escape from Sherwood Liquor Fair at Spruce Street and Arctic Avenue, police later surrounded his house in Trenton and he surrendered." (08/31/05)

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15127119&BRD=1697&PAG=461&dept_id=44551&rfi=6

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New Mexico: Shooting first under concealed carry
Los Alamos Monitor

" A fatal shooting at an Albuquerque Wal-Mart last week was the state's first by someone with a concealed-carry gun permit, authorities said. Police said Felix Vigil was attacking his ex-wife with a knife near the store's deli counter where she worked when an armed customer intervened and shot him. The woman, Joyce Cordova, was treated for multiple stab wounds and later released from an Albuquerque hospital. The armed customer, 72-year-old Due Moore, was interviewed after the shooting last Thursday and released. Police spokeswoman Officer Trish Hoffman said it appeared the shooting was justified. However, it will be up to the district attorney to decide whether Moore, a volunteer with the police department's cold case unit, will be prosecuted. .... Moore's fatal shot was the first fired by someone with a permit, according to state Department of Public Safety spokesman Peter Olson. The state has issued more than 3,100 permits since the gun law went into effect Jan. 1, 2004." (08/31/05)

http://www.lamonitor.com/articles/2005/08/31/headline_news/news12.txt

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West Virginia: W.Va. man not guilty in slaying
Herald Mail

"Three years, four months, 18 days and about an hour later, John W. Jenkins Jr. lifted his eyes skyward, then closed them after a court clerk read aloud these two words: "Not guilty." A Berkeley County jury of nine women and three men deliberated for less than two hours Tuesday before acquitting Jenkins in the shooting death of his second cousin, Steven Cole, 37, of Martinsburg, on April 12, 2002. .... Jenkins has maintained he shot Cole in self-defense after Cole pulled a gun on him and fired one bullet toward him. Jenkins was the first and only witness to testify Tuesday - the fifth day of the trial. He testified about his family, violent outbursts from Cole and the shooting. .... Jurors had five options - finding Jenkins innocent or finding him guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter. They deliberated for an hour and 38 minutes." (08/31/05)

http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=119014&format=html

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