sturmruger
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I did a search and was unable to find this story posted anywhere.
Intruders pay price for home invasion
Springfield woman shoots both, killing 1
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Holly Zachariah
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Colin Jenkins’ girlfriend was already in bed Tuesday night, and he was just about to join her when the doorbell started to ring incessantly. When Jenkins opened the door, a man forced his way inside the rural Springfield home. Within minutes, one robbery suspect was dead and another critically wounded.
Jenkins’ girlfriend had shot them both.
Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly called the late-night home invasion "an apparent horrible attack on innocent victims." He said that although the case will be presented to a grand jury, he expects no charges against the shooter, 19-year-old Megan Stapleton.
"There is no reason to believe this was anything but random, and this young couple was defending themselves," Kelly said. He said the couple has lived in the house since October. Stapleton is a waitress at two restaurants, and Jenkins, also 19, works in construction.
Killed was 29-year-old Jonathan L. Carson, a former basketball star at Springfield South High School who played the 1997-98 season with the University of Cincinnati Bearcats, averaging 3.1 points in 17 games.
Carson had run-ins with the law in recent years, Kelly said, and had a previous felony conviction for receiving stolen property. Wounded was Dow R. Huffman, a 23-year-old from West Liberty in Logan County. He was wanted for failing to appear in court on a previous charge. He was listed last night in critical condition at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton.
The drama began just after 10 p.m. when a neighbor spotted a suspicious car. There are only five houses on Darnell Drive, part of an upscale neighborhood north of the Upper Valley Mall in western Clark County. Georgianna Sarven and her husband have lived in one of them for 28 years.
Their neighbor went to their house and said she was afraid to go home because a strange car was parked on the street with its lights off and a man inside.
The Sarvens accompanied her to her home and were inside checking her house for trouble when they heard commotion across the road.
"Then, all hell broke loose," Mrs. Sarven said. "We saw the boy that lives there outside waving his arms, flagging down police, and someone else said there was a dead body on the porch."
Kelly recounts the night’s events like this:
Jenkins opened his door about 10:30 p.m., and Huffman, armed with two guns, muscled his way in. The two fought, and Jenkins yelled to his girlfriend for help.
She left her bedroom, and Huffman stalked her down the hallway toward a back room. When she emerged, she had a 9 mm handgun and Huffman was right in front of her. She fired multiple times, and he went down.
She then ran to the living room and found a masked Carson fighting with Jenkins on the floor. She fired several times, apparently grazing her boyfriend in the back and hitting Carson once in the back.
Carson got up, stumbled onto the front porch and fell dead. A handgun was found near his body. Jenkins was treated for his injuries at a local hospital, Kelly said. Stapleton was shaken but unharmed.
Kelly said the car that neighbors saw, a large green vehicle with a damaged door, likely was a getaway vehicle. He said deputies are searching for the driver.
Jonathan L. Carson, top, was killed and Dow R. Huffman wounded Tuesday night.
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