Screenshot from Tulsa Police Department Facebook post

As a political writer and solid believer in the right to armed self-defense, I spend some time each day researching defensive shooting episodes throughout the country in order to keep my finger on the pulse of the matter. And as a resident of a Tulsa, Oklahoma, suburb, I also keep a pretty close eye on the local news on a daily basis.

So, when those two worlds meet—as they did recently—I can’t help but want to write about it.

On Tuesday evening, a Tulsa homeowner used his firearm to stop five men who were attacking him in his front yard. The incident is a good example of a firearm being the “great equalizer” since a 5-on-1 fight would not normally be winnable by the lone party.

According to the Tulsa Police Department (TPD), the homeowner and 47-year-old Marco Richardson had been involved in an ongoing argument that had already led to previous confrontations. Police say that on the night of the incident, Richardson, his son and three others exited two vehicles at the suspect’s house and rushed him.

While the five men had the homeowner, who has not been identified, pinned against a vehicle in the yard and were assaulting him, he drew his gun and began shooting, hitting Richardson in the chest and also hitting another of his attackers.

When police arrived at the scene they found Richardson lying in the yard surrounded by several people. He later died of his wounds at a local hospital, and the other man who was seriously wounded in the incident was transported to a nearby hospital in critical condition.

“The homeowner cooperated with officers, surrendering the pistol and providing a statement to investigators,” TPD reported in a Facebook post. “Based on witness statements and evidence collected, no charges were filed against the homeowner.”

The investigation is ongoing and will be presented to the District Attorney’s Office for final disposition once completed

Unfortunately for the journalism world, despite the fact that police clearly stated that no charges were filed against the homeowner and headlined the photo on the department Facebook page “Self-Defense Homicide,” the local CBS affiliate, newson6.com, repeatedly referred to the homeowner as the “shooter” and called the attacker who was killed the “victim.” It seems that even in Oklahoma, so-called “mainstream” media can still find some way to make positive use of a firearm sound negative.

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60 COMMENTS

    • JLB,

      Always.

      Once, while mowing the lawn, I opted to open carry because it was just too darn hot and I did not want to drip sweat all over my Sneaky Pete. The woman next door was out back watching her kids. She saw me, came to the edge of the yard and watched me make a few passes up- and-down the yard. Then, she went to her door and her husband came out. They both watched me make a few more passes. I smiled and waved and kept on mowing.

      in all the conversations we had afterwards, they never asked.

    • It is a basic truth that the educated do their best to ignore and the peasants are not allowed to acknowledge. While incidence and likelihood will vary by region and population, everyone should be prepared for some level of savagery and the violence needed to end it.

    • “Remove all the guns and knives. Then 5 trogs beat you to death and rape your wife.”

      And?

      “Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Or the one.”.

      In order to prevent the law abiding from killing others, it is necessary that some victims of crime/attack be sacraficed as a means to make the many others (criminal, or not) feel safe.

      The common good is better served if 400 million legally owned guns are confiscated. In order for the collective to meet its full potential, some are lost along the way; fulfilling their obligation to the collective.

      It is settled science.

  3. My comment vanished. Second try. Remove all the guns and knives and then 5 savages beat you to death.

    Gun control and its supporters are pure evil.

      • I’m used to that. This time there was no notice. Just a long enough delay for me to post a second comment. They showed up together.

      • jwm,

        I have had some comments go to “moderation” limbo: some of them appear later and some do not.

        Most frustrating was a very compelling comment that I typed which did not trigger moderation. However, I dared to denigrate one of the Far Left’s sacred cows and TTaG deleted my comment hours later. (I won’t say which sacred cow that I destroyed because this comment will then disappear as well.)

        So much for Free Speech, eh?

        • “So much for Free Speech, eh?”

          “Freedom of the Press Is Guaranteed Only to Those Who Own One”
          – – A.J. Liebling, The New Yorker, 1960

        • “I have had some comments go to “moderation” limbo: some of them appear later and some do not.”

          When Dan was running things, he made an effort to clear moderated posts several times a day. The new ownership doesn’t seem to have the same attentiveness as the previous administration…

      • mine too…

        posts I made yesterday vanished after posting, so I went back to a few different past articles and looked for posts I made in those and some of them have vanished.

        I also am affected by posting then the post never appears and doesn’t indicate going to moderation but most never appear later either.

        I also have the issue where posts are indicated going to moderation for no reason at all, but then later never appear. I tested this several times over the last couple of weeks with one or two word posts (e.g. words ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or ‘yes maybe’) and it indicated going to moderation but they never appeared.

        This link thing, its goes to moderation but sometimes the post never appears. This has been a problem for a while at TTAG actually before it changed owners, although it did not seem as wide spread before the ownership change as it does now. Because of its unreliably its why I do not post links to substantiating information because they are on sites that are known to be frequently ‘memory holed’ by word press and media sources but sometimes one sneaks through.

        So it looks like, maybe, some sort of ‘shadow ban’ like activity similar to that used by left leaning social media type platforms … so i’m leaning towards ‘word press’ being more of the culprit here and simply getting into TTAG and removing posts in moderation or with some form of temporary (either word press direct interactive or passive or automatic) ‘ban type thing’ for users posting on certain subjects the ‘vanished’ so they never appear or don’t appear for the TTAG moderator to approve. But it could also be simply a screwed up ‘filtering’ thing trying to stop spammers too and its too much a ‘brute force’ type of thing that isn’t very discerning and based on a kind of very broad word/pattern filtering. It could really be anything. And of course, that is, if TTAG is not doing it.

        But a question also that I have after talking to others that have sites using word press, and them telling me their users seem to be suffering the same basic issues, and they don’t know why its happening so the question is this… is TTAG compromised through word press?

        Maybe this post will appear and maybe not.

        • I seldom post here at TTAG anymore for exactly this reason, and it’s gotten worse over the years.

          It’s becoming a problem at Dan’s new site, too. Wouldn’t be so much of a problem if we at least were informed of the parameters, so we could wordcraft our comments from the get-go.

          • “Wouldn’t be so much of a problem if we at least were informed of the parameters,…”

            The problem with that is, the spammers will modify their postings to dodge the moderation. So I can see why they wouldn’t lay out exactly how they moderate TTAG…

      • My favorite is when you read a controversial TTAG article (clearly published as click bait) and you comment (because, after all, you’ve fallen for the click bait), and then you’re moderated (because you’ve addressed the aforementioned controversial click bait topic).

        I feel like TTAG doesn’t quite understand the concept of click bait, truth be told.

  5. Well, it was a self defense homicide. AKA justifiable homicide. Seems everyone agrees the homeowner was the person who did the shooting. When I was writing reports on things like this I referred to the “victim” as the suspect, aggressor, etc.

    • “When I was writing reports on things like this I referred to the “victim” as the suspect, aggressor, etc.”
      Proving that you aren’t the media.

  6. This is precisely the not so uncommon scenario that demonstrates why average citizens have a legitimate need for semiautomatic pistols, rifles and shotguns with standard capacity magazines that hold thirty rounds or more. They are the modern equivalent of the blunderbuss that the founding fathers were very cognizant of when they wrote the Second Amendment.

      • Especially if you only load your shotgun with “harmless buckshot.”. Seventeen rounds multiplied by 27 #4 buckshot per round equals 459, 24 caliber projectiles.

    • Actually, our media is worse. Pravda writers had their Soviet monitors looking over their shoulders, directing the mien and content of their reporting, under threat of imprisonment or worse. Our reporters do their damage willingly, with no government coercion. Bastages!

      • Our reporters do their damage willingly, with no government coercion.
        Uh, what planet are you living on. There is plenty of evidence that the government is aiding and abetting the “main stream” media. The government appears to be practically giving the media the story they would like written.

  8. “The investigation is ongoing and will be presented to the District Attorney’s Office for final disposition once completed.” The DA gets heat from the anti gun nutbags and things may still go south for this guy. That’s why it is wise to have some concealed carry insurance from a reputable company.

    • Wiser yet to live in a home that is secluded.
      My driveway is half a mile long. A State Trooper once stated that he would never venture down my driveway uninvited without a warrant. My place looks like the Roach Hotel to him. I once had a Sheriff’s Deputy from a neighboring County loose bowel as well as bladder control before he bravely ran away. The oil pan of his car impacted the gravel when he hit a pot hole which resulted in an oil stain that ran all the way to town. The expression on his face resembled Brave, Brave Sir Robin when he was confronted by the three headed driveway.

      Given sufficient seclusion from prying eyes, ring cameras and other such BS, one can implement the Shoot, Shovel and Shut up strategy. However; it is necessary to ensure that none of the roaches can check out.

      • Elmer Fudd,

        While I understand the appeal of the “shoot, shovel, and shut-up” mindset, there is significant peril in that strategy today thanks to almost everyone having smart phones which transmit their locations to cell phone data banks.

        Suppose that John Q. Public comes to your home, he attacks you, you use legally justified deadly force, and John Q. Public dies at your home. You figure that no one knows so you bury his body in your back five acres. Of course you think that is the end of it. Meanwhile, John Q. Public’s family/friend notices that he is missing and report it to police who then get a court order for his location data at his cell phone provider. Of course his last known location is at your home. Guess where police will show up and start asking questions?

        And depending on several factors, police may even show up with a search warrant–including cadaver dogs–at which point you are royally screwed.

        Even if you were legally justified to use deadly force and have legally admissible irrefutable proof of such which guarantees that your prosecutor cannot prosecute you for it, you have committed serious felonies for tampering with evidence and hiding the dead body. At that point your future depends on whether or not the prosecutor decides to prosecute you.

        If you are that concerned about an attack at your home, a much safer strategy is to have cameras and a recorder which will provide exonerating evidence.

  11. BREAKING 2A NEWS: FEDERAL APPEALS COURT ISSUES MAJOR GUN-FREE ZONES RULINGS IN CALIFORNIA & HAWAII.

    The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a major ruling today in Wolford v. Lopez involving sensitive places laws in Hawaii and California. Mark Smith Four Boxes Diner analyzes.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf1BmoA17xM

  15. second attempt for this post, the first one (a reply to Southern Cross above) simply vanished with that weird ‘click post comment and it just goes back to the top of the page and the post never appears’ thing.. so a second attempt…

    mine too…

    posts I made yesterday vanished after posting, so I went back to a few different past articles and looked for posts I made in those and some of them have vanished.

    I also am affected by posting then the post never appears and doesn’t indicate going to moderation but most never appear later either.

    I also have the issue where posts are indicated going to moderation for no reason at all, but then later never appear. I tested this several times over the last couple of weeks with one or two word posts (e.g. words ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or ‘yes maybe’) and it indicated going to moderation but they never appeared.

    This link thing, its goes to moderation but sometimes the post never appears. This has been a problem for a while at TTAG actually before it changed owners, although it did not seem as wide spread before the ownership change as it does now. Because of its unreliably its why I do not post links to substantiating information because they are on sites that are known to be frequently ‘memory holed’ by word press and media sources but sometimes one sneaks through.

    So it looks like, maybe, some sort of ‘shadow ban’ like activity similar to that used by left leaning social media type platforms … so i’m leaning towards ‘word press’ being more of the culprit here and simply getting into TTAG and removing posts in moderation or with some form of temporary (either word press direct interactive or passive or automatic) ‘ban type thing’ for users posting on certain subjects the ‘vanished’ so they never appear or don’t appear for the TTAG moderator to approve. But it could also be simply a screwed up ‘filtering’ thing trying to stop spammers too and its too much a ‘brute force’ type of thing that isn’t very discerning and based on a kind of very broad word/pattern filtering. It could really be anything. And of course, that is, if TTAG is not doing it.

    But a question also that I have after talking to others that have sites using word press, and them telling me their users seem to be suffering the same basic issues, and they don’t know why its happening so the question is this… is TTAG compromised through word press?

    Maybe this post will appear and maybe not.

    • Oh look, they both suddenly appeared after doing that weird ‘click post comment and it just goes back to the top of the page and the post never appears’ thing. But even then, some that did that yesterday and in past article comments have still not appeared.

      • Plus now, suddenly, correctly formed youtube links no longer show the video here at TTAG where its privacy-safer to view and instead just shows the link so there was some change made and in this specific youtube link aspect its detrimental for privacy. If you have to go to the yourtube page you are subjected to 100% of the intrusive tracking and cookies activity and third party activity of youtube, this is detrimental to privacy. Where if you watched the video here at TTAG you avoid that 100% (although, they probably do know where that video view is happening.

  16. Please don’t give an extensive statement to the police.
    I acted in self defense because i was afraid for my life. I want to talk to my lawyer now. And see a doctor (if you were injured).
    Anything else is already too much.

    • Correct Max, but I would like to mention this…

      After you have defended your life against the bad guy, its not necessary to be physically visibly injured to see a doctor. Its a good idea to get checked out any way at the hospital plus it gives you time free of police to get your thoughts together and calm down.

      When the police arrive, its as you said but always tell them you want to go to the hospital to be checked out by an actual doctor, physically visibly injured or not. Not by paramedics on scene, but by an actual doctor at the hospital.

      The reasons are:

      1. Unless you are an extremely different form of human critter you will be suffering from, at some level, a form of psychogenic or dissociative amnesia sometimes referred to as ‘confrontation amnesia’. To get over this completely you really need some time of at least 72 hours of rest to recall details in all their proper contexts. Police/DA’s are aware of this and why they want you to start talking right away when they arrive because you might say something then that later might seem contradicted by the details you remember and relate later, a prosecutor might use these discrepancies against you.

      This is a trick commonly used in anti-gun ‘environments’ by police and prosecutors, they know the ‘confrontation amnesia’ effect exists. There are cases of valid legal justified self defense where the defender, completely innocent of any wrong doing for their defense, had an anti-gun prosecutor office exploit this to keep a defender in jail for a year or more under the guise of ‘investigating’. You need at least 72 hours of rest away from the legal system in familiar surroundings (e.g. at home) to get over this completely, but the first couple of hours are critical (which is also why having a ‘self-defense’ incident experienced attorney that can frame things properly is a very good thing).

      So going to the hospital to get checked out by an actual doctor gives you some time at least a few hours to start to calm down and think of next steps and get organized more fully for the legal system encounter you are going to go though most likely. You have just been a victim of a crime and you defended your self or another from that crime but the police may be treating you like a suspect, so this also helps you take back some control of the situation by giving you time to call your attorney/self-defense-plan-carrier and calm down and direct when you will talk to police. Anti-gun ‘environment’ legal systems hate it when people do this as it denies them complete control of the initial narrative they want you to give so they can use details you recall later to make it look like you changed your story and lied when that’s not the case at all.

      2. Despite not having any obvious physical injury unless you are an extremely different form of human critter, your body still has experienced a very large flood of adrenaline and cortisol due to the inherent natural ‘stress response’ (AKA ‘fight or flight’ response) all humans have and this affects function of your heart (and other body functions especially memory recall ability for details). You want to make sure, even if you are as healthy as the proverbial horse, that things are ok. When large amounts of adrenaline and cortisol are dumped into the body your heart may (or may not) undergo an AFIB (like) condition no matter how healthy you or your heart normally are and this can be very serious as it can lead to a stroke you may not even be aware of happening. Its necessary to get medically checked out by a doctor to make sure everything is ok. Now granted its unlikely this will happen in most people but you can never tell because you may not even feel it happening, but in a person that is not as healthy or fit, or is older than say age 30, or even if healthy generally or smokes or has other medical conditions it can possibly be a concern. It doesn’t matter if you used a gun or not for your defense, all biologically body-function normal humans go though this and even victims not defending or witnesses can go though this. You do not need to give an actual medical or injury reason to police or prosecutors office to demand to go to the hospital, they may try to convince you otherwise or say you can be checked out by paramedics on scene but do not fall for it and ask to be transported to the hospital to be checked out by an actual doctor. If the police/prosecutors insist on a reason all you need to do is say ‘I have been the victim of a crime and I am traumatized, I need to go to the hospital to be checked out by an actual doctor.”

      • OH, and if you do go to the hospital do not reveal any information about the defense event to the doctor or any of the staff or anyone else at the hospital (e.g. another ‘patient’). If you do reveal information of what happened its possible they could be called as a witness for the prosecution if you are charged and go to court, you might still be under the effects of that stress response which can make you not recall information correctly or make you say something incorrectly without you even realizing you said it incorrectly.

        So stick to the ‘script’, as after you protect yourself or others you still need to protect yourself from the legal system and the legal system is going to stick to their script and their script includes using anything you say or do against you if they can. Get a lawyer that’s experienced with handling such defense cases and let your lawyer handle framing this properly for police and prosecutors.

        • so after its over is when this form of psychogenic or dissociative amnesia sometimes referred to as ‘confrontation amnesia’ kicks in. Don’t worry, its not a mental illness you are suffering from. Its simply the brain natural and nature intended activity as it begins to recover from the flood of adrenaline and cortisol pumped into your system by the automatic and inherent natural ‘stress response’ (AKA ‘fight or flight’ response) as it switches things back fully to your parasympathetic nervous system control from the sympathetic nervous system engaged for the stress response. The parasympathetic nervous system was suppressed by the sympathetic nervous system automatically engaged for the stress response.

          • clarification for “so after its over…”

            Actually it starts during the event. After the event is over is when it starts to become apparent even if you don’t realize it and think you remember every detail even though you actually may not at the time. And sure, some people can recover very quickly but most can’t and need time.

  18. Joseph Stalin learned early in life that when the person causing a problem goes away, so does the problem in most cases.
    The fellow’s previous confrontation problem with the deceased is probably moot now.

  23. ” the local CBS affiliate, newson6.com, repeatedly referred to the homeowner as the “shooter” and called the attacker who was killed the “victim.”

    Maybe the homeowner needs to retain the services of the same attorneys who represented Nick Sandmann in his victorious and very, very lucrative lawsuit against CNN and others.

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