John Boch was interviewed by WCIA News, you can see the clip here:
http://illinoishomepage.net/fulltext?nxd_id=331962
I'm sure you've seen Sarah McKinley in the national news recently, she's the young woman who had the misfortune of having two bad guys break into her house less than a week after her husband died. She was forced to shoot one of them. What hasn't made national news? What an Illinois/Indiana gun club has done to help her out. Read on....
Originally Published in GunsNews by John Boch
At the January meeting, GSL President John Boch brought up the story from New Year’s Eve of Sarah McKinley from Blanchard, OK. This 18-year-old mother lost her husband to cancer on Christmas Day 2011 and less than a week later, two opportunistic, armed thugs try to break into her home, probably to rape her. She barricaded her front door with her couch, then got her shotgun, her baby and her phone and retreated to the back of the residence.
For twenty-one minutes she waited for police to arrive as the two men tried to force their way in through both doors. Bad guy #1 was on the verge of breaching the front door when the 911 operator told Sarah not to shoot unless the intruder made it inside the house. The bad man got in far enough to begin climbing over the couch when young Sarah McKinley perforated him with her boom-stick. Amorous bad guy #2 suddenly sobered up and decided he had to be somewhere else and later turned himself in.
Boch spoke with the Blanchard police and they have nothing but praise for how McKinley handled the unfortunate situation. “It doesn’t get much more righteous than this one,” a detective told Boch.
McKinley’s primary home defense gun, the shotgun, was taken for evidence. “We’ll probably have it for at least a couple of months,” the detective said.
Mr. Boch and some friends decided to make a difference and make sure Sarah McKinley has a replacement home-defense shotgun. Antonio Luna, a part-time adjunct staff instructor with Fortress Defense Consultants, made some contacts and lined up a gun. The Blanchard police chief referred Mr. Boch to a trusted, nearby gun dealer, Nathan Morrison of KAIROS Services, LLC., and offered to send a squad to give Sarah a ride to pick up the shotgun once it arrived.
Everyone at Blanchard PD, from the chief down to the front desk clerk, expressed profound and sincere appreciation for any help we or others could provide. “Anything you can do to help with be very much appreciated as that young woman is having a very difficult time right now,” the desk clerk told Mr. Boch.
Mr. Luna secured most of the money needed for a bare-bones Remington 870. A day later, at the Tuesday evening GSL meeting, Mr. Boch asked GSL members to help come up with a $100 to $150 in order to trick out the shotgun with a side-saddle, sling and to take care of any incidental costs. After Boch started a hat around with $10, a few minutes later, GSL members came through with not one, but two hats, stuffed with $487.
Sarah McKinley’s gun arrived on Martin Luther King’s birthday. It’s a tricked-out Remington 870 Express 12ga with a Hogue fore-end and 13” youth stock, a Mesa Tactical 8 round side saddle, Trijicon ghost-ring tritium sights, an Advanced Technologies mag clamp swivel mount and a Vickers Tactical Blue Force two-point sling. Also included are a few boxes of Federal Personal Defense 00 buck, which the gun loves.
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| Sarah McKinley picking up the donated shotgun. |
The gun was test fired before shipping. Ryan Stoy, of ZX Gun in Goshen, IN told Boch, ”I test fired the gun this afternoon. It’s a good gun. I built it up myself and it’s what I would want someone I care about to have.”
We (Boch, Luna, etc.) are weighing options for either giving McKinley a check for the remaining cash, or making arrangements to (legally) get her a personal defense caliber revolver.
There is a trust account set up to help Sarah McKinley. If you missed the meeting and would like to contribute to help this girl have a better year in the Year 2012, here is the contact information.
Sarah McKinley Trust Fund
Chickasa Bank & Trust
405 485-2300
Ask for Leah.
Lemme see . . . the lady is on record as stating she – herself – did in fact use the weapon. The police are on record as saying her actions were lawful self-defense. There is no question as to the weapon used. Therefore, why is there any need for ballistics evidence? Answer? There is not. Corollary: The taking of the weapon by police can be justified as “just following orders.”. However, as we all know, the commission of a crime while just following orders has been deemed by international and U.S. law a la the Nurnberg Trials as an invalid defense. Q.E.D. The cops’ actions, while perhaps excusable, are and were unlawful. Following that trail, the individual (DA? Asst DA? Mayor? Chief?) who ordered the taking has conspired the commission of a criminal act.
ReplyDeleteWhile she may not have any desire to sue the police, were I her, I would certainly look into the actions of the superior who ordered the police to commit the crime.
Otherwise, having successfully gotten away with this crime, the individual ( or committee? ) might be encouraged to commit additional, or worse, crimes.
Pour encourager les autres . .
Obviously sir... You know nothing about the Laws of this Country or the Rules of Evidence. It's not a whim on the part of the police to take that gun in a shooting incident. They are required to do so as evidence. I should know. I was a Homicide Supervisor for 30 years. Keep your uninfomed comments to yourself.
DeleteI beg to differ . . . but then it wouldn't matter what evidence I provided, would it? You've obviously been encouraged . . .
DeleteThanks for the update, I'll toss a Hamilton or two their way.
ReplyDelete@ CarlS,
While I agree with your intent, the fundamental reason that the gun has not been released as yet, is that it is material evidence needed in the trial of the Goblins.
I know of this as I had items and a gun stolen from my abode. The officer, while taking the report, told me that if any of the items were recovered, they would be returned after the trial was finished.
The goblin was captured and my DL# was on several items. The items were returned to me when the goblins trial was over. Standard procedure in criminal cases. It's called a solid chain of evidence and it's required for successful prosecution of the goblins.
Therefore, I don't think your thesis is correct.
Please guide me . . .
DeleteThe purpose of the trial is to decide if the goblins were - what, exactly? Breaking in with felonious intent? THEY didn't have anything to do with the gun other than be the proximate cause for its' use.
The ONLY rational reason for confiscating the property of a non-criminal citizen is to gather evidence needed to prove it was in fact used. But we already know the definitive answer to that question.
The gun was not stolen or otherwise taken from the householder and thus is not evidence of any crime committed by the defendants.
I appreciate your comments but absent any logical reason for the confiscation (even if surrendered voluntarily, it was due to coercion, intentional or otherwise), there is no reason that the weapon is needed to complete any investigation. Given that they already know who the owner is, who used the weapon, and why, and have already pronounced it a "good shoot".
Show me otherwise. I'm open to learning. Unlike the "Homicide Supervisor of 30 years", I only have a little more than 20 years of investigative experience. In 5 different countries.
Edit to read:
DeleteThe gun was not stolen or otherwise taken from the householder INSERT by the defendants and thus is not evidence of any crime committed by the defendants.
Carls... cool your jets, dude. life is way too short to get so worked up. She will get her original gun back, plus she gets a great home defense gun in the process. SHE WINS!!!!, bad guys lose. Try looking at the big picture once. Sheese! Big picture is: Good guys win bad guys loose.
ReplyDelete