A follow-up to the story on Javaris Chandler, the Hollywood teenager who defended his family during a home invasion. Javaris went out to face the intruder with a gun in each hand. This was a good thing, as one jammed. His father often took him to the firing range, and taught all of his children gun safety:
Javaris Granger wished his father was there instead of him.His father was on the phone, urging Granger, 15, to get the gun they used for shooting practice. "Do what you have to do," his father said.
Granger did. He aimed the gun and fired at the violent intruder.
...Posted by floridacracker at May 27, 2006 10:45 AMHe ran out to the dark living room and saw his mother screaming as a man, cursing and muttering, threw a bicycle at the window.
Granger yelled at the intruder to leave, while his mother called his father on the phone and handed it to her son. The stranger began turning the doorknob, intent on getting in the home.
Within seconds, Granger ran into his parents' bedroom, found the safety box, unlocked it and loaded two guns for him and his mother. He ran back to the living room as the intruder threw a bicycle at the door and started kicking it in.
His mother was too shaken to take a gun, so she ran to another bedroom where her daughters and visiting family members were hiding.
"I was real scared and nervous, but I knew I had to stay focused on what I had to do because my mom and the kids were there," Granger said.
The next moment the man kicked down the door and jumped into the living room, yards from Granger.
"I didn't want to hurt anybody, so I fired off a warning shot," the ninth-grader said.
The intruder didn't leave until four shots later.
...Granger does not face charges. The second oldest child in the family, he often goes to the range at Markham Park to practice shoot with his father. He was never a victim of crime before, but calmly went through all the gun safety steps his father taught him, even after one gun jammed after the first shot Saturday.
He even locked up the guns after Jumper left, before he checked on his mother. "My husband tried to get everyone to learn the safety of a gun," Chandler said. "It paid off."
Is this a "Cracker Kid Caps Crook" feel good story or is it something else? So far this sounds like a good story but I worry about details provided (or not) by the newspapers. None of the articles mentioned why the first call went out to the father instead of the police, unless that detail was omitted. Did the family know the intruder? Could that be why they didn't call the police first? Could've just been panic but the kid certainly rose above.
Regardless, when someone is smashing their way into the house, I'd say you're entirely within your rights to defend your family as you see fit and the kid did a good job. However, I wouldn't recommend warning shots simply because that round has to go somewhere and it might have unexpected consequences.
Four shots - including the "warning shot" - with the intruder being hit twice. That might not sound too good to some people but given the difficulty of firing a handgun accurately under stress, our hero did very well. Mind you, he had been receiving some sort of training - enough to keep this from being a disaster - but most people don't have any training and this is why we have shotguns.
One question bothers me after reading all of this and that is why is this guy running around kicking in people's doors after having attacked a Seminole Reservations Police Officer the night before? Maybe that is, in part, the answer to my first question as to why the cops weren't called first and maybe that ought to be the next story for the paper to investigate. There's just something about this story that doesn't feel right, though it has nothing to do with the report on the actions taken by the kid.
Posted by: tfhr at May 27, 2006 12:17 PMMarkham Park is where I go to shoot. I hope I get to meet this kid some day and shake his hand.
- Scott
Posted by: Scott Auld at May 27, 2006 12:24 PMScott, Markham's right down the road. I haven't shot there, but I have shot at Tamiami. Where the heck are you, anyway?
Posted by: Donnah at May 27, 2006 12:35 PMI never liked guns (despite my service) too much deadly force intimidated me when it comes to my own safety, I need a HUGE ideal to consider it. That is why that kid is FRIGGIN AWESOME! He didn't gun the guy down, he threatened, and warned him off, prepared to make a that decision, to protect his family.
That kids father did a good job in building a good man.
Posted by: Wickedpinto at May 27, 2006 06:45 PM> Scott, Markham's right down the road. I
> haven't shot there, but I have shot at
> Tamiami. Where the heck are you, anyway?
I am in Coral Springs.
I thought you were up in Central FL or somewhere up there.
Scott
Posted by: Scott at May 28, 2006 11:34 PM