Local soldier shoots intruder!

Yeah! One more shitbag off the streets IMO. One down, 999,999 to go. The paper's reader responses have been mostly positive.



By Timothy Cox| Staff Writer
Thursday, May 03, 2007
storyTools(); 65 commentsPRINTEMAIL



A man who police said broke into an Army officer's south Augusta house to steal guns was fatally shot Wednesday by the soldier living there. storyPhotos();

1 / 2
​

Timothy Cox/Staff
A man who police said broke into an Army officer's south Augusta house to steal guns was fatally shot Wednesday by the soldier living there.
Click photo for options


Errol Lavar Royal, 29, of the 2200 block of Ramblewood Drive was pronounced dead at Medical College of Georgia Hospital about 6:45 p.m. Police said he lived with his parents near the burglarized home in the 3400 block of Linderwood Drive in the Pepperidge subdivision.
Capt. Barre Bollinger, an Iraq war veteran, told police he returned from work about 3:30 p.m. and found his house had been ransacked, said Richmond County sheriff's Investigator Thomas Johnson.
Capt. Bollinger told police he entered his bedroom and noticed that guns were missing.
He grabbed his SKS rifle - a weapon similar to an AK-47 assault rifle - and called 911, Investigator Johnson said.
"While on the phone with 911, he sees the suspect approaching his back door. Because he believes the man now is armed with his stolen weapons, Mr. Bollinger fires at him three times," Investigator Johnson said.
Mr. Royal was shot at least twice in the stomach area. A search of his residence produced two guns taken from Capt. Bollinger's house and marijuana, the investigator said.
Neighbors told police that Capt. Bollinger, who is stationed at Fort Gordon, generally works from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but occasionally returns home early.
As of now, there are no plans to charge Capt. Bollinger in the shooting, police said.
A similar shooting occurred a week ago, when a woman shot an intruder on Lexington Drive, less than a mile from Linderwood Drive.

Score!

Good story, but that may be the worst copy and paste job I've ever seen.

Yeah, clean up that code, willya!

Did the soldier wait for the guy to enter the house? I'd have had to do that in NJ before zapping him.

It didn't come out the way it was saved...sorry. Anyway, no he wasn't in the house yet, but because he ransacked the guns there was good reason to believe he was armed. Add to that he has a prior record, and the soldier gets off the hook. They should give a soldier a ticker-tape parade IMO. Too bad no other thieves will take the lesson to heart.

What? They weren't locked up somewhere?? Did the guy just leave the guns laying on his bed?

Just another way that criminals get guns.

He say A suspect. He did not know who robbed his house. This guy was on the outside.

Then he just blows him away. That guy was a soldier. He couldn't say 'hold it right there!' while holding the gun on him. And he didn't see the guy holding a weapon.

Fucking scared ass soldier.


Overkill

Nobody should have to lock their guns in a bomb-proof safe just to ward off thieving assholes, and nobody should be expected to expose themselves to undue risk just to keep said thieving asshole alive.

You don't think guns shoul dbe locked up?

Just leave em out eh?!

He was a pussy. Has a rifle on the dude and just shoots him.

Just like I've said before. these gun dudes are just dyin' to get a chance to shoot someone.

Look how you mugs are all happy over this.

A friggin' soldier.

Unless I've got kids, "locked" inside my fucking home should be enough to answer the question of whether I'm offering them willingly to anyone who wants a free gun.

The dude was in posession of several weapons taken from the owner's home. Do you expect him to give the thief a chance to shoot first? Fuck that. He did it exactly right.

The good guy took responsibility for his own safety and posessions, and the bad guy wound up dead. What's not to like?

How do you know they weren't locked in a case that had been broken into? You're assuming too much. The Army Captain is a hero.

And Mewa is a zero.

For shooting an unarmed dude?

Cuz in the article they say the guns were found at the guys house. I know he didn't know that but the guy did not have a gun in his hand.

He saw the guy and assumed this must be the mug that robbed my house. Blam!!!!Blam!! Blam!!!!

Where was the threat? you're standing there armed. You got military training. Your watching the guy approach your house. He doesn't see you.

What did the guy do...put his hand on the doorknob and then soldier shoots him?

So I see many agree that burglars should get the death sentence.

I'm not gonna kill a guy cuz he stole my stereo.

I wonder if oldfella would tell the guy to hold it or I will shoot?

Or wait to see what the guy does. You got that rifle and you got training. Do you just blast away at someone OUTSIDE your home that you THINK robbed your house that MIGHT have one of my guns on him.

Hmm, hands are empty but I'm in a good position to get the drop on this guy.





Naahhhhhh!!! I'm scared shitlesss!! Blam!! Blam!!! Blam!!!!

Not sure where you get "hero" from this story.


To Lt. Mewa: as any criminal in Georgia must know, your life is possibly forfeit the moment you trespass onto property. What's the saying, 'you rolls the dice, you takes your chances?'

I wish NY was more like Georgia in that respect, where criminals know that there is a good chance that they will be permanently deterred from commiting another crime whenever they voluntarily break onto another persons' property. If the victim is home, and armed, goodnight my someone, goodnight.

How can you side with the perp? Today there is one less criminal with stolen weapons than before he got shot. Think of the potentially dozens of crimes that the fucko will have zero chance of committing with the two guns he stole, now that he has become past tense and the guns recovered. This "thief" would not have been held accountable for any killings with those guns had he sold them. Now we won't have to argue about how we could have held him accountable.

The idiot thief deserved to get his ass shot off just for being stupid enough to return to a gun owner's house after successfully getting away with one load of stuff.

I don't blame the soldier at all, he comes home to see his house pillaged and when he goes to call 911 a complete stranger walks up to his back door, what else was he supposed to do? Calmly ask the guy to freeze and hope that the burglar isn't stupid enough to try to shoot him anyway?

I'm not siding with the perp. I just don't think he shoulda been killed is all.

In NYC when these things happen to cops, they try to APPREHEND the dude.

Your answer is a bit extreme.

I see it as the guy was mad and was happy to shoot someone, anyone, after being robbed. I know the feeling but you have to have some self control.

Theives are stupid. This type of thing doesn't stop them. Why do you folks keep thinking that. That want to find guns.

The guy is a soldier. He coulda got the drop on this guy or shot just ONCE.

Tell me where the perp lunged at him or had a weapon out or was in his house. Nope, none of those things.

Well first off, If I got a big ass rifle and the perp is empty handed...YES!

Hold it right there MOFO. Don't friggin' move! the cops are on the way!

If he moves...then you shoot him.

The hero killed someone who undoubtably would have stuck again. What if next time he broke into a place to rob it there is only a young mom with a baby and the guy decided to get violent with them? All the future crime that was stopped by shooting this peice of crap makes our Army Captain a hero.

GEE, can you look in that crystal ball and tell me if I'll evr get to screw Beyonce.

Mewa is just upset because he shot a brother.

Yeah, I would have found a non-fatal wounding a satisfactory result too, as long as they got the guns back and this guy was eventually convicted.

But - whether or not it happens often - I'd then be concerned about a lawsuit that somehow awarded the criminal damages because he was hit with 'excessive force'.

He saw a guy and assumed it was the guy because HE HAD JUST BEEN ROBBED. It's not like you see some kid taking a short cut through your back yard, your stuff is missing, your guns are missing, and there is a guy who doesn't belong in the backyard. It's not too much of an assumption to think that the guy in the yard was the one who stole your guns. It's not that easy to see handguns, meaning you can't assume he's unarmed. So if you run out there and try to play cop and just stop the guy you might end up dead. Personally I think better him than me, and go with 2 to the chest and one to the head for good measure.

Yep. My ball tells me this perp won't ever be a perp again. 100% certainty. That's a rare achievement in today's world. Plus, that the guns he'd stolen will much less likely be used to kill an innocent.

As for Beyonce, I can't tell yet.

magic 8 ball says "fo shizzle my nizzle"

thing must be broken...

This soldier coul dstill end up in trouble. Who says its over?

Cuz if I had anything to do with it I would want every aspect of this shooting looked at. I would investigate what right he had to shoot the perp and how that law is supposed to be applied.

Stop right there... if you had anything to do with it you'd be layed out in a morgue.