DragonRider
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http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2003/sep/17/091710048.html
Another reason to have a back-up plan.... Bet the shot gun will be loaded next time.
GARDNERVILLE, Nev. (AP) - A Gardnerville man who shot and killed a convicted killer who forced his way into his home said the late-night intrusion was like a horror movie.
In newly released police reports, Charles Cryderman told investigators that Walter Hetrick, who spent nearly 20 years in and out of California psychiatric hospitals, continued crawling down a hallway toward his children's bedroom after being shot three times, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported.
Cryderman, a Douglas County businessman, told investigators the incident was like the movie "Friday the 13th" or "Jack Nicholson in 'The Shining,'".
Cryderman, 52, said he was watching television around 11:30 p.m. Aug. 2 when Hetrick, whom he had never met, showed up at his door looking for a woman named Stacy. Cryderman told him he had the wrong house.
According to the reports, The 6-1, 230-pound Hetrick became angry, starting talking about rape and began pounding on the door.
As Cryderman got his Smith & Wesson .357 magnum revolver from a bedroom, the noise at the front door stopped.
Then Hetrick began banging on a side door, saw Cryderman was armed and yelled, "Put the gun down," the reports said.
Hetrick threw a brick against the door and kicked it open. Cryderman fired, and the door slammed shut. Hetrick kicked the door open twice more, and Cryderman fired one shot both times, the reports said.
The reports said Hetrick "finally lunged into the residence," and Cryderman fired twice more, using up the five rounds in the six-shot revolver.
As his wife and two children hid in a bathroom, Cryderman hit Hetrick three times - in the upper torso, the thigh and in the foot.
But Hetrick, 40, still kept moving through the home, so Cryderman got his unloaded shotgun that was still in a case and began beating him with it, the report said.
Hetrick grabbed the shotgun at one point and the two struggled over it, but Cryderman got it back and continued hitting him, even after the case came open and the shotgun game apart, the reports said.
At one point the homeowner pleaded with Hetrick to "stay there," the reports said.
Sheriff's deputies swarmed the home moments later. Hetrick, of Antioch, Calif., was handcuffed and taken to a hospital where he died of a severed artery from the gunshot wound to his thigh.
Investigators said Hetrick's mother and an aunt in Antioch showed detectives seven bottles of prescription drugs that Hetrick had stopped taking. His mother described him as dangerous to himself and others when he wasn't taking medication.
Hetrick was found guilty in the shooting death of his best friend in Antioch in October 1984 and sentenced the following March to 27 years to life in prison, authorities said.
He initially was sentenced to Atascadero State Hospital but also spent time at other state hospitals and was deemed insane under California law.
Authorities said Hetrick had been arrested on drug charges as recently as January but was released from state supervision in California about three months before the Gardnerville break-in.
Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal
Another reason to have a back-up plan.... Bet the shot gun will be loaded next time.
GARDNERVILLE, Nev. (AP) - A Gardnerville man who shot and killed a convicted killer who forced his way into his home said the late-night intrusion was like a horror movie.
In newly released police reports, Charles Cryderman told investigators that Walter Hetrick, who spent nearly 20 years in and out of California psychiatric hospitals, continued crawling down a hallway toward his children's bedroom after being shot three times, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported.
Cryderman, a Douglas County businessman, told investigators the incident was like the movie "Friday the 13th" or "Jack Nicholson in 'The Shining,'".
Cryderman, 52, said he was watching television around 11:30 p.m. Aug. 2 when Hetrick, whom he had never met, showed up at his door looking for a woman named Stacy. Cryderman told him he had the wrong house.
According to the reports, The 6-1, 230-pound Hetrick became angry, starting talking about rape and began pounding on the door.
As Cryderman got his Smith & Wesson .357 magnum revolver from a bedroom, the noise at the front door stopped.
Then Hetrick began banging on a side door, saw Cryderman was armed and yelled, "Put the gun down," the reports said.
Hetrick threw a brick against the door and kicked it open. Cryderman fired, and the door slammed shut. Hetrick kicked the door open twice more, and Cryderman fired one shot both times, the reports said.
The reports said Hetrick "finally lunged into the residence," and Cryderman fired twice more, using up the five rounds in the six-shot revolver.
As his wife and two children hid in a bathroom, Cryderman hit Hetrick three times - in the upper torso, the thigh and in the foot.
But Hetrick, 40, still kept moving through the home, so Cryderman got his unloaded shotgun that was still in a case and began beating him with it, the report said.
Hetrick grabbed the shotgun at one point and the two struggled over it, but Cryderman got it back and continued hitting him, even after the case came open and the shotgun game apart, the reports said.
At one point the homeowner pleaded with Hetrick to "stay there," the reports said.
Sheriff's deputies swarmed the home moments later. Hetrick, of Antioch, Calif., was handcuffed and taken to a hospital where he died of a severed artery from the gunshot wound to his thigh.
Investigators said Hetrick's mother and an aunt in Antioch showed detectives seven bottles of prescription drugs that Hetrick had stopped taking. His mother described him as dangerous to himself and others when he wasn't taking medication.
Hetrick was found guilty in the shooting death of his best friend in Antioch in October 1984 and sentenced the following March to 27 years to life in prison, authorities said.
He initially was sentenced to Atascadero State Hospital but also spent time at other state hospitals and was deemed insane under California law.
Authorities said Hetrick had been arrested on drug charges as recently as January but was released from state supervision in California about three months before the Gardnerville break-in.
Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal