Local College Student Defensive Gun Use

Local College Student Defensive Gun Use

Cops: 2 killings look like self-defense
UA student grabs his handgun, shoots intruders and calls police

By Alexis Huicochea

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.17.2008

Evidence in the fatal shooting of two intruders by a University of Arizona student appears to be consistent with his account that he was defending himself, police said.

The 23-year-old student shot and killed Shontel R. Early, 30, and Wesley O. Fenstermacher, 29, after the two men barged into his home early Thursday morning, said Sgt. Fabian Pacheco, a Tucson Police Department spokesman.

At least one of the intruders had a gun. The incident occurred shortly after 12:30 a.m., Pacheco said.

The police spokesman gave this account:

The student was home alone in a guest house in the 800 block of East Adams Street, near North Euclid Avenue and East Speedway.

There was a knock at the door, and one of the men asked for someone who did not live there.

The student looked past the man he was speaking with and saw another man, who had his face covered and had a gun.

The student retreated into his home and grabbed his own handgun, but the men made their way in.

The student fired, then called police to report the shooting. When officers arrived, they found the two men dead inside just past the doorway.

The student was questioned and is cooperating with police. His name was not released.

There is no indication that the student is or has been involved in any criminal activity, police said.

Pacheco could not say what the men were looking for or if they had possibly intended to go to a different house.

The case will be presented to the Pima County Attorney's Office for a determination on whether the shootings were justified, Pacheco said.

And, of course, there's the handwringing by the neighbors:

Neighbors were alarmed by the events.

Ali Adelmann, a UA sophomore, just moved into the neighborhood this semester. "It really worries me," the Phoenix resident said. "All we can do is keep our doors and windows locked."

And buy a gun and learn how to use it.

Worked for the victim here, didn't it?

Jenny Wise also moved into the neighborhood in August. The 19-year-old sophomore said she wasn't home at the time of the shootings. She had gone to a party, and when she arrived home around 2 a.m. she found her street taped off and flooded with police.

"It's really the scariest thing," Wise said.

"I've lived a sheltered life. This seems like a nice little neighborhood. I don't know what I would've done if two guys tried to get into my house," Wise said.

Well, Jenny, you're too young to purchase a handgun for yourself, but you can receive one as a gift from a family member. Short of that, I recommend a shotgun. And some training.

And so much for the argument that college students aren't responsible enough to possess firearms! But he still can't possess or carry on campus.

Here are (apparently) mugshots of the two deceased (which suggests, and rather strongly, that these two had previous rap sheets, don't it?):