Clyde Tonwship, MI — A burglar caught in the act of breaking into a farmer’s pole barn was shot after he tried to run over the property owner with his pickup truck.
The call came into the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office on Monday, with the farmer reporting that a man was burglarizing his barn in the 6000 block of Lapeer Road.
Before officers could arrive, the farmer reported that “shots had been fired” and that the burglar had driven away.
In the days leading up to the Monday morning shooting, the owner of the barn, a 50-year-old man from Port Huron, had reported his barn had been broken into to the Michigan State Police.
As every farmer knows, the tools in most barns aren’t hammers and nails anymore, but expensive equipment and machinery that would be hard to replace.
The Big Catch
The property owner kept an eye on his barn after noticing that initial break in. On Monday, when he came back to check on things, he saw more of his property sitting on the ground outside the pole barn! Not where he’d left it.
He decided to park his vehicle out of sight, and wait to see if the thief would return to pickup the rest of the items he’d left behind. And in a moment that had to be surreal, that’s exactly what happened. The man was standing there when the burglar returned to the property and started to load more items into his truck!
The farmer was armed with a pistol but called the police. He announced himself to the burglar and told him he was armed and the cops were coming.
The suspect, a 23-year-old Port Huron Township man, jumped back into his vehicle and drove right at the farmer. With no other choice, the farmer said he “shot his pistol at the vehicle in self-defense.” The suspect was only wounded and managed to drive away.
Police later discovered the suspect and transported him to the hospital. The farmer’s shot had caught the burglar in the fact. No word on the alleged burglar’s condition.
Monday Afternoon In Broad Daylight
Many people carry their guns when they’re going out at night or in a rough neighborhood. But story after story shows that bad things happen to good people all the time. In broad daylight, in the middle of a work day on their own private property!
Carry every day. This is why your gun rights matter.