Never give up, never surrender

[paramedic70002]

- Buzz Lightyear

http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBKCI5UZWE.html

Man Shot In Face By Burglar
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By YVETTE C. HAMMETT The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jan 16, 2007

VALRICO - A man shot in the face during a home invasion Monday morning told a neighbor the two men who broke into his mobile home are the same ones who robbed him in May.

Sheriff's officials had little to go on Monday afternoon except a description the victim gave of the robbers. One was 19 to 23 years old and 6 feet tall. The other was 27 to 32 years old, possibly with a small mustache, and 5 feet 8 inches tall. They were seen driving a light blue or light blue-gray van.

Before being airlifted to Tampa General Hospital, Edward Waldon, 62, told investigators the two men broke into his white mobile home just before noon at 724 Mulrennan Road, Lot No. 6, and robbed him.

The three men struggled, and one of the robbers shot Waldon, said Hillsborough County sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter.

When the robbers fled, Waldon ran to neighbor Lorena Fultz's trailer yelling for her to call police.

"I had just fixed a sandwich and was sitting down to eat when someone just started banging on the door," Fultz said. "All I could see was blood coming from his face. Looked like he'd been shot twice in the forehead and once in the neck."

Fultz said Waldon told her they were the same two men who broke into his trailer in a similar manner in May, taking his cell phone, camera and other valuables.

Shortly after the shooting, yellow crime scene tape surrounded Waldon's home. Four sheriff's cruisers sat in the driveway at Mockingbird Adult Park, where six white mobile homes sit in two rows a few feet from Mulrennan Road and just west of the Copper Ridge subdivision.

Waldon was in stable condition at Tampa General on Monday afternoon, Carter said.

Rebecca Gravel, Waldon's sister, said in the May robbery the same men broke into his house and beat him as he slept. Waldon worked for six months to replace the camera they stole.

"They didn't get it this time, but they did steal his computer," she said.

Gravel said her brother was shot at three different times during the robbery: once as he struggled to get the gun away from one of the robbers, another time in the hallway and a third time right before the robbers left his trailer. "The one guy, he said, looked right at him and shot him in the face."

Waldon will undergo surgery today to remove fragments from his skull, Gravel said.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[PapaScout]

Ick.

[one eyed fatman]

Ya think he should get a gun of his own instead of trying to borrow one from the robbers?

[jualdeaux]

Ya think he should get a gun of his own instead of trying to borrow one from the robbers?

Why? The police are here to protect us. Didn't you read the part where four cruisers and yellow tape surrounds his place?


You all did notice the sarcasm, right?

[retsupt99]

I hope it's a 9mm...

One would think that after the first home invasion he would have been better prepared for the potential of another...some people never learn...sorry to hear he's a 'slow' learner...

Hope the 'dirtbags' meet the 'right' homeowner real soon!

Stay armed...stay safe!

ret

[p8riot]

He needs a shotgun, and he needs to learn how to use it.

Besides that, if the same guys robbed him in May, they should have been behind bars already.

[oilman]

Ya think he should get a gun of his own instead of trying to borrow one from the robbers?

[peacefuljeffrey]

Ya think he should get a gun of his own instead of trying to borrow one from the robbers?

My first thought.

"Why the hell did this guy not better prepare himself to survive, after the first time he was robbed?"

If people who have never been victimized fail to prepare, we can sort of understand why.

But when someone has been victimized, and he still does his "la-de-da" head-in-the-sand act and pretends to himself that nothing bad'll ever happen to him again, he kind of deserves what he gets when the bad guys come a-knockin' again and he's just as helpless as he was the other time.

Tough luck, dude.