According to a Florida County sheriff, a homeowner who fired a reported AK-47-style firearm at home invaders will “absolutely not” face charges.
On July 7, 2022, three males appeared at the front door of the homeowner. When he unlocked the door, two of the men shoved him into the house, where they assaulted him while the third man waited outside with a handgun. The homeowner dropped his pistol, which was retrieved by one of his assailants, but the homeowner ran to the back of the house, picked up a reported AK-47-style firearm and fired at the intruders, forcing them to flee to the fourth suspect, who drove off with them.
Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons, asked if the homeowner had done anything wrong, told Fox News,“Absolutely not. If protecting your family and yourself is wrong, then I don’t know what we’re here for … He did absolutely nothing wrong.”
“When we look at whether the actions of the homeowner are reasonable, we try to think about what we would do,” he continued. “And I can tell you that if someone breaks into my front door, barges in and attacks me or my family, they are going to get shot, and I afford that same consideration to the residents of my county.”
“I don’t think there’s anything else to do; you have got to protect family, you have to protect yourself. And you have to use whatever reasonable means you have available to you … His life was obviously in danger … he certainly did what I would do,” Simmons concluded.
Da’Torrance Hackworth, 20, and Antonio Dewayne Dean Jr., 18, have been arrested on home invasion and illegal gun possession charges; Joseph Roman Sanders, 18, is still at large.
Last February, the ex-cop father of a 14-year-old American girl who had over one million followers as a TikTok star shot and killed an 18-year-old boy who stalked his daughter and had traveled hundreds of miles to her home, where he fired a shot through the family’s front door.
The father was not charged under Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law.
Ava Majury, 14, whose videos showed her singing, dancing or pulling pranks, noticed in early 2020 that one of her followers, Eric Rohan Justin, 18, of Ellicott City, Md., was becoming obsessed with her, messaging her in Snapchat and on Instagram, and even joining online games she played with her brothers, The New York Times reported in a lengthy piece about the story. Ava initially responded to Justin as she did with other fans, but learned he was buying her personal information, including her cellphone number, from her friends in New Jersey and Florida. He then would call or text her.
On July 10, 2020, Justin came to the Majury’s home in Naples, Florida, armed with a shotgun, which he used to blow open the front door before the shotgun jammed. That prompted Ava’s father, Rob Majury, a retired police lieutenant, to give chase but he fell, gashing his knee, as Justin fled. But later Justin returned and when he pointed the gun at Majury, Rob Majury shot and killed him.