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This is part of a conversation I had with a friend of mine online. I've been trying to convince him of the importance of being armed. I thought you guys might appreciate how it played out.

mkay77304: maybe I'll wait till the next gun show to pick something up
James (merddyn): you could look at getting your CHL out of the way in the meantime.
James (merddyn): takes several months
James (merddyn): most ranges have a gun you can borrow for your test.
mkay77304: oh yeah
mkay77304: I was just thinking of keeping it at the house though
James (merddyn): hmmmm
James (merddyn): "carry 24/7 or guess right"
James (merddyn): do most folks get mugged at home on the couch or out on the town?
mkay77304: yeahy, but I really don't ever go out anywhere even remotely dangerous to be honest
mkay77304: well maybe car jacked, that would be the only thing I'd ever worry about
James (merddyn): well there you go
James (merddyn): it'll never happen to you.
James (merddyn):

Show this to your friend.

Story last updated at 2:08 a.m. Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Suspect held in fatal stabbing
BY HENRI BRICKEY AND ERIC FINLEY
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Lubbock Police arrested a 25-year-old man in the Monday evening stabbing death of a retired U.S. Air Force colonel.

Donald J. McCullough, 73, was killed around 5:30 p.m. inside the garage of his Southwest Lubbock home as he unloaded dry cleaning from his SUV.

He and his wife were headed to San Antonio today to attend the Air Force retirement ceremony of their son, said a longtime friend who later arrived at the scene.

Police didn't know Monday evening why a man ran into McCullough's garage, fought with him and stabbed him to death.

Joe Don Buckner / Staff
A police investigator photographs an area in front of an open hatch on an SUV Monday where an apparent homicide took place at 8017-Vinton Avenue.
Order a print
Alonzo Labance Lewis was arrested at a nearby business hours after the attack and charged with capital murder.

Neighbor Tony Guillory, who lives next door to the home at 8017 Vinton Ave., said he spoke to McCullough's wife moments after the attack.

"She went outside and he was being beaten up," Guillory said.

McCullough's wife told police her husband had returned from running errands and had made one trip inside before going back to the garage to continue unloading the vehicle.

Then "she heard him calling 'call 911,'" Lt. Scott Hudgens said.

McCullough's wife told police her husband's attacker, a heavyset black man with a red shirt, dark cap and a limp, ran down an alley across the street.

Police searched a wide area around the home, just two blocks north of 82nd Street near Slide Road, with help from tracking dogs and a Department of Public Safety helicopter.

Officers searched door-to-door through homes with neatly manicured lawns and as well as nearby businesses, including the BodyWorks Family Sports Center across 82nd Street.

McCullough was a deputy commander of Reese Air Force Base in the late 1980s, responsible for 400 officers, airmen and civilians involved with resource management. He headed two regional economic development groups after retiring from the Air Force in 1988.

Longtime friend Dana Tartaglione, who arrived at the home, said McCullough flew F-4 Phantoms in the Vietnam War. Their son flew F-16s in Desert Storm, Tartaglione said.

The McCullough's attend St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Lubbock, he said.

To comment on this story:

eric.finley@lubbockonline.com 766-8725

james.gallagher@lubbockonline.com 766-8706

This story first appeared on LubbockOnline.com at 6:30 p.m. Monday.

The is no place where violence has not erupted at some time: "gun free zones," churches, hospitals, police stations, jails, courthouses, you name it.

Obviously you avoid bad neighborhoods, rough bars (can't carry, anyway), and places where crime is more likely; but no place is immune.

- Jim

Bad areas are not like zoo's with gates around them to keep bad people inside it. Bad people with Bad motives area everywhere. You just have to hope that you dont have Bad timing to meet one of them.

AV8R wrote:Show this to your friend.

Story last updated at 2:08 a.m. Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Suspect held in fatal stabbing
BY HENRI BRICKEY AND ERIC FINLEY
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Lubbock Police arrested a 25-year-old man in the Monday evening stabbing death of a retired U.S. Air Force colonel.

Donald J. McCullough, 73, was killed around 5:30 p.m. inside the garage of his Southwest Lubbock home as he unloaded dry cleaning from his SUV.

He and his wife were headed to San Antonio today to attend the Air Force retirement ceremony of their son, said a longtime friend who later arrived at the scene.

Police didn't know Monday evening why a man ran into McCullough's garage, fought with him and stabbed him to death.

Joe Don Buckner / Staff
A police investigator photographs an area in front of an open hatch on an SUV Monday where an apparent homicide took place at 8017-Vinton Avenue.
Order a print
Alonzo Labance Lewis was arrested at a nearby business hours after the attack and charged with capital murder.

Neighbor Tony Guillory, who lives next door to the home at 8017 Vinton Ave., said he spoke to McCullough's wife moments after the attack.

"She went outside and he was being beaten up," Guillory said.

McCullough's wife told police her husband had returned from running errands and had made one trip inside before going back to the garage to continue unloading the vehicle.

Then "she heard him calling 'call 911,'" Lt. Scott Hudgens said.

McCullough's wife told police her husband's attacker, a heavyset black man with a red shirt, dark cap and a limp, ran down an alley across the street.

Police searched a wide area around the home, just two blocks north of 82nd Street near Slide Road, with help from tracking dogs and a Department of Public Safety helicopter.

Officers searched door-to-door through homes with neatly manicured lawns and as well as nearby businesses, including the BodyWorks Family Sports Center across 82nd Street.

McCullough was a deputy commander of Reese Air Force Base in the late 1980s, responsible for 400 officers, airmen and civilians involved with resource management. He headed two regional economic development groups after retiring from the Air Force in 1988.

Longtime friend Dana Tartaglione, who arrived at the home, said McCullough flew F-4 Phantoms in the Vietnam War. Their son flew F-16s in Desert Storm, Tartaglione said.

The McCullough's attend St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Lubbock, he said.

To comment on this story:

eric.finley@lubbockonline.com 766-8725

james.gallagher@lubbockonline.com 766-8706

This story first appeared on LubbockOnline.com at 6:30 p.m. Monday.

Certainly no city is 100% safe and tragedies such as this do occur.

However, to keep things in perspective:


Lubbock is the 11th-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in the northwestern part of the state—a region known historically as the Llano Estacado—it is the county seat of Lubbock County. According to an estimate by the U.S. Census in 2005, the city population was 209,737. The Lubbock metropolitan area, however, has a population of 257,663.


So, 257,662 people did not die at the hands of a crazed killer that same day (pretty good odds). I know BG's do not come in "numerical order" and that trouble can show up nearly anywhere, but honestly.....most people don't really have that much to fear.

Just another view of things.

A coworker of my wife was mugged in the WalMart parking lot on Austin Highway here in San Antonio. She had just cashed her paycheck that afternoon. Nope..bad stuff never happens to good people in familiar places, does it?

Yeah, that's me.

I don't go to bad places. I don't hang out with bad people. I don't live in a bad neighborhood.

Guess no one told that to the bad guys. Wish I had known then what I know now.

flintknapper wrote:So, 257,662 people did not die at the hands of a crazed killer that same day (pretty good odds). ....most people don't really have that much to fear.

The vast majority of Americans will die in bed of cancer or heart disease, but they worry more about plane crashes and shark bites than those diseases.

I agree that we should not be quaking in fear (I don't), but statements like "it will never happen to me" are self-deception.

- Jim

LedJedi wrote: mkay77304: I was just thinking of keeping it at the house though

mkay77304: yeahy, but I really don't ever go out anywhere even remotely dangerous to be honest

Ask him why he doesn't move to one of those less dangerous places, if his home is dangerous enough for him to want a gun, but nowhere else is.

mrbug wrote:A coworker of my wife was mugged in the WalMart parking lot on Austin Highway here in San Antonio. She had just cashed her paycheck that afternoon. Nope..bad stuff never happens to good people in familiar places, does it?

A very similar incident happened here several years ago when our receptionist (from work) cashed her check at WalMart. She was not "mugged" per se, but her purse was snatched as she walked through the parking lot on the way to her car.

This was about 5:00 p.m. on a summer afternoon (broad daylight).

She is a very petite woman....and was no doubt targeted for that reason....(and the fact that she lacked awareness).

She told us she heard a vehicle coming up fast behind her (but never looked back), then it slowed some....(another clue), then all of the sudden someone grabbed her purse from behind and jumped in the pass. side of the vehicle as it sped off.

She no longer cashes her checks at WalMart (criminals do watch for this), she now carries OC and pays more attention to who is around her.

Her purse and wallet were found on a street about a 1/4 mile away (no money or credit cards), but the thieves were never caught and she could only tell the police they were driving "an old green car".

All of this in "smalltown" Deep East Texas, so yes....bad things happen sometimes. More so....if you don't pay attention to what is going on around you.

The badguy chooses the location, not the victim.

fm2 wrote:The badguy chooses the location, not the victim.

That is so true.
We all need to be aware of what is going on around us. Stories like what have been stated here just go to show us that it can happen any where.

flintknapper wrote:

mrbug wrote:A coworker of my wife was mugged in the WalMart parking lot on Austin Highway here in San Antonio. She had just cashed her paycheck that afternoon. Nope..bad stuff never happens to good people in familiar places, does it?

A very similar incident happened here several years ago when our receptionist (from work) cashed her check at WalMart. She was not "mugged" per se, but her purse was snatched as she walked through the parking lot on the way to her car.

This was about 5:00 p.m. on a summer afternoon (broad daylight).

She is a very petite woman....and was no doubt targeted for that reason....(and the fact that she lacked awareness).

She told us she heard a vehicle coming up fast behind her (but never looked back), then it slowed some....(another clue), then all of the sudden someone grabbed her purse from behind and jumped in the pass. side of the vehicle as it sped off.

She no longer cashes her checks at WalMart (criminals do watch for this), she now carries OC and pays more attention to who is around her.

Her purse and wallet were found on a street about a 1/4 mile away (no money or credit cards), but the thieves were never caught and she could only tell the police they were driving "an old green car".

All of this in "smalltown" Deep East Texas, so yes....bad things happen sometimes. More so....if you don't pay attention to what is going on around you.

Women have also been abducted in this manner.

Hey all, just found this site today. Very timely, because not 10 minutes earlier I had composed an email to a friend/colleague of ours (i.e. of my wife and I).

She's pretty much an anti, but supposedly open to new ideas, so we've got a fairly new tradition of "discussing" this sort of stuff during our lunchbreaks.

Her stance initially was "Dial 911, that's what it's there for" and "Just run, don't stay/stand to fight, because nothing you own is worth your life."

I pretty quickly and easily disabused her of the notion of "911 as panacea" (I already have a metric truckload of resources on "duty to protect"), but it's this last part I'm having a much tougher time on.

I said finding this forum/thread was "very timely" earlier, and that's partly because the "Retired USAF COL stabbed in Lubbock" story that AV8R posted was also part of my email to her.

shooter_tx wrote:Hey all, just found this site today. Very timely, because not 10 minutes earlier I had composed an email to a friend/colleague of ours (i.e. of my wife and I).

She's pretty much an anti, but supposedly open to new ideas, so we've got a fairly new tradition of "discussing" this sort of stuff during our lunchbreaks.

Her stance initially was "Dial 911, that's what it's there for" and "Just run, don't stay/stand to fight, because nothing you own is worth your life."

I pretty quickly and easily disabused her of the notion of "911 as panacea" (I already have a metric truckload of resources on "duty to protect"), but it's this last part I'm having a much tougher time on.

I said finding this forum/thread was "very timely" earlier, and that's partly because the "Retired USAF COL stabbed in Lubbock" story that AV8R posted was also part of my email to her.

Welcome to the forum!

I see nothing wrong with dialing "911" or removing yourself from a bad situation (running/walking away). This of course, assumes that both time and circumstance allow for it.

On the other hand, if your friend has the idea that every situation can be solved by simply calling (and waiting) for help to arrive......then she needs to witness a demonstration of how much damage can be done in the scope of 3 minutes (an excellent response time for LEO). Ask her (respectfully) to consider that.

All too often... the police/authorities end up only being able to write a report, the damage is done, the BG is gone.

Taking responsibility for her own protection might be something for her to look into.

Some people will never do it, but... as long as they do not restrict my right to do so.....I can live with it. It is a very personal choice...and each person must decide for themselves.