This was the front page article of the Daily Oklahoman today.
http://newsok.com/article/3015287/
By Julie Bisbee
Staff Writer
HUGO — Sheila Almond says she doesn't have nightmares about shooting a man who entered her store with a gun and a ski mask over his face.
But when she wakes, it's with a sense that something isn't right.
On the evening of Oct. 19, Almond said she shot a man in the shoulder with a pistol as he reached for money from the cash register in her liquor store.
When the shot didn't faze him, she said the words that now have become famous, "Bring me Baby,” which was her telling a clerk to bring her the sawed-off shotgun kept in another room at the store.
The man apparently didn't flinch. Almond, 59, laid the shotgun down on the counter, pulled the trigger and blasted the man through the front door of the store into the parking lot.
The blast took out pieces of the man's colon, a kidney and part of his liver, and also damaged a lung.
The man, identified as Guy Wade Buck, wasn't expected to live. He spent more than three months in a Texarkana, Texas, hospital before being transferred to a nursing home, his parents said. No charges have been filed against Buck, 50, who remains on a ventilator and can't talk.
"I think they're waiting till he either passes away or gets better,” said Hugo police Detective Steve Babcock. "It's sort of in limbo.”
In recovery
Assistant District Attorney Joe Watkins said his office is waiting to see whether Buck's condition improves before filing charges. While officials wait, Almond's guns, including her precious shotgun, are evidence and remain with law officers.
It took Almond nearly two months to recover from the incident, mentally and physically. Almond, 59, had open heart surgery a few months before the shooting and said she laid the gun on the counter that night because she didn't want the kick of the gun to disturb the healing incision on her chest.
The jolt of the shotgun blast worsened Almond's health, she says. She now has fluid on her lung and is taking antibiotics to fight off infections.
"That's why I gut-shot him instead of blowing his head off,” Almond said of her heart surgery. "I held the gun against my side so I wouldn't blow my sternum. I hate that man for making me go through all that.”
She's talked to veterans to help sort out her emotions after the shooting.
"It took me about two days to get there and about two months to get over it,” Almond said. "Not because I regretted what I did, but because I didn't have anybody to talk to. None of the law enforcement officers I talked to had ever been in a shoot-out. I talked to Vietnam vets — they told me what they had faced. My brother-in-law told me, ‘You will never forget the sound of that shotgun.' I said, ‘I never heard it, and I did not feel it.'”
The suspect
Buck, 50, one of two sons of Robert and Alice Buck, had worked hard most his life, his mom said.
"He was a construction worker and worked on tall buildings — hotels, banks — all across the United States,” said Alice Buck, 88.
Guy Buck had been in trouble with drugs and was told by a doctor that working outside in the heat and hot sun would only aggravate a blood disorder he had, his mother said.
Buck has been convicted of having a controlled substance and had served time in an Oklahoma prison. He was paroled in 2005 after serving two years. In 2006, he was given a suspended sentence for possession of stolen property, according to records from the Oklahoma Corrections Department.
Buck lived with his parents for about a year when police said he walked into the West Main Liquor store with an air pistol and attempted to steal all the $10 bills from the register. His parents said a woman had repeatedly called their home that week asking their son for $500, and he committed the robbery because he was desperate for money.
Almond's viewpoint
Almond suspects the robbery was to support a drug habit.
"He could have been whatever he wanted to be, a doctor, a lawyer, but he chose to be a drug addict,” Almond said. "He only wanted the $10 bills. I guess the crack houses don't make change.”
Since the shooting, Almond has turned into a local celebrity. She's received cards from people who heard about her story. One card was written in German.
"I got a real pretty card, and all it said was ‘Nice Shooting,'” Almond said. "They didn't sign it.”
She's earned a few new nicknames, too.
"They call me Annie Oakley, Ma Barker,” Almond said. She and the clerk who handed her the gun have been dubbed "Thelma and Louise,” after the characters in the movie.
"People come in from out of town and ask if this is the store where the shooting happened. Then they ask, ‘Where's the lady that did the shooting?' I just raise my hand. It's a little embarrassing,” Almond said.
http://newsok.com/article/3015287/
By Julie Bisbee
Staff Writer
HUGO — Sheila Almond says she doesn't have nightmares about shooting a man who entered her store with a gun and a ski mask over his face.
But when she wakes, it's with a sense that something isn't right.
On the evening of Oct. 19, Almond said she shot a man in the shoulder with a pistol as he reached for money from the cash register in her liquor store.
When the shot didn't faze him, she said the words that now have become famous, "Bring me Baby,” which was her telling a clerk to bring her the sawed-off shotgun kept in another room at the store.
The man apparently didn't flinch. Almond, 59, laid the shotgun down on the counter, pulled the trigger and blasted the man through the front door of the store into the parking lot.
The blast took out pieces of the man's colon, a kidney and part of his liver, and also damaged a lung.
The man, identified as Guy Wade Buck, wasn't expected to live. He spent more than three months in a Texarkana, Texas, hospital before being transferred to a nursing home, his parents said. No charges have been filed against Buck, 50, who remains on a ventilator and can't talk.
"I think they're waiting till he either passes away or gets better,” said Hugo police Detective Steve Babcock. "It's sort of in limbo.”
In recovery
Assistant District Attorney Joe Watkins said his office is waiting to see whether Buck's condition improves before filing charges. While officials wait, Almond's guns, including her precious shotgun, are evidence and remain with law officers.
It took Almond nearly two months to recover from the incident, mentally and physically. Almond, 59, had open heart surgery a few months before the shooting and said she laid the gun on the counter that night because she didn't want the kick of the gun to disturb the healing incision on her chest.
The jolt of the shotgun blast worsened Almond's health, she says. She now has fluid on her lung and is taking antibiotics to fight off infections.
"That's why I gut-shot him instead of blowing his head off,” Almond said of her heart surgery. "I held the gun against my side so I wouldn't blow my sternum. I hate that man for making me go through all that.”
She's talked to veterans to help sort out her emotions after the shooting.
"It took me about two days to get there and about two months to get over it,” Almond said. "Not because I regretted what I did, but because I didn't have anybody to talk to. None of the law enforcement officers I talked to had ever been in a shoot-out. I talked to Vietnam vets — they told me what they had faced. My brother-in-law told me, ‘You will never forget the sound of that shotgun.' I said, ‘I never heard it, and I did not feel it.'”
The suspect
Buck, 50, one of two sons of Robert and Alice Buck, had worked hard most his life, his mom said.
"He was a construction worker and worked on tall buildings — hotels, banks — all across the United States,” said Alice Buck, 88.
Guy Buck had been in trouble with drugs and was told by a doctor that working outside in the heat and hot sun would only aggravate a blood disorder he had, his mother said.
Buck has been convicted of having a controlled substance and had served time in an Oklahoma prison. He was paroled in 2005 after serving two years. In 2006, he was given a suspended sentence for possession of stolen property, according to records from the Oklahoma Corrections Department.
Buck lived with his parents for about a year when police said he walked into the West Main Liquor store with an air pistol and attempted to steal all the $10 bills from the register. His parents said a woman had repeatedly called their home that week asking their son for $500, and he committed the robbery because he was desperate for money.
Almond's viewpoint
Almond suspects the robbery was to support a drug habit.
"He could have been whatever he wanted to be, a doctor, a lawyer, but he chose to be a drug addict,” Almond said. "He only wanted the $10 bills. I guess the crack houses don't make change.”
Since the shooting, Almond has turned into a local celebrity. She's received cards from people who heard about her story. One card was written in German.
"I got a real pretty card, and all it said was ‘Nice Shooting,'” Almond said. "They didn't sign it.”
She's earned a few new nicknames, too.
"They call me Annie Oakley, Ma Barker,” Almond said. She and the clerk who handed her the gun have been dubbed "Thelma and Louise,” after the characters in the movie.
"People come in from out of town and ask if this is the store where the shooting happened. Then they ask, ‘Where's the lady that did the shooting?' I just raise my hand. It's a little embarrassing,” Almond said.
