Tuesday feel good story; when “everything you got” is in .38 caliber
Chief Tango sends us a link to Tampa Bay Online which tells the story of 81-year-old James Stevens who noticed he was being followed by a Kia the other night. Everyone knows that Kia drivers are never up to any good – well, that’s been my experience anyway.
Stevens, 81, wasn’t going to lead the man to his home, so he pulled over in a field. When the Kia also stopped, Stevens got his .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver and got out of his truck, according to Marion County Sheriff’s Office reports.
Stevens told investigators that the driver of the Kia — later identified as Lonnie Lorenza Hollingsworth Jr., 28 — got out of the vehicle, approached him and demanded “everything you got,” reports state.
“I didn’t want to shoot him, but I had to. I shot him,” Stevens told deputies.
Four rounds appeared to have been fired from the six-shot gun, according to evidence photos.
Lorenza remains in critical condition and Mr. Stevens is fine and charges haven’t been filed against him, as of the printing of the article, so all’s well that ends well.
Category: Guns
Love a story with a happy ending.
Good job Mr. Stevens.
You got a second chance, Lonnie. Don’t squander it.
Never mess with old folks. We’re to old to fight so we’ll just shoot you.
“I didn’t want to shoot him, but I had to. I shot him”
Thank you, NEXT!
Good stuff!!!
I will never own a vehicle with the letters KIA stamped on the side.
Anyways, good shooting Mr Stevens.
Would it be bad taste to observe that Stevens didn’t give Hollingsworth “everything he had” and instead held two rounds in reserve? (smile)
Now we all get to pay Lonnie’s medical bill.
I’m glad Mr. Stevens is okay, and I hope someone gives him a .45 for his next birthday. Or Christmas, whichever comes first.
Actually, never mess with old folks because we are too tired to run and too tired to fight very long, so we have to go to guns a bit faster.
Love these stories….lets buy some replacement rounds for the guy!
Hondo, he DID give Hollingsworth everything he had — in the form of brass-coated leaden projectiles.
It seems like there is a plethora of senior citiznes in Florida “taking out the trash” over the last year or so. Thieves today have to learn that if they didn’t back down to Hitler’s SS, or with this guy those darn North Koreans, they probably won’t back down to some clown “with his pants on the ground”.
As for the not quite deceased, “Hollingsworth has had numerous run-ins with the law and was convicted in 2008 of carrying a concealed firearm and altering the serial number of a firearm. He also was charged with wearing a bulletproof vest in the commission of an attempted crime, but that charge was dropped.” He should have checked his closet for that bullet proff vest before “going to work”.
I don’t know if it is going to be a happy ending at all. I think the punk’s lawyer will make the claim that the shooter pulled over to shoot his client instead of driving off. If the shooter felt threatened, then why didn’t he drive to a police station?
Final Score = Good Guy 1, Bad Guy 0
http://www.lookwhogotbusted.com/marion-county-fl/lonnie-lorenzo-hollingsworth
Just a misguided yout looking for a mentor!
@13 Lonnie’s lawyer doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on, with Lonnie’s history. Like you said: PUNK. It’s hard to make an angel out of a criminal with a ballistic vest, even if he wasn’t wearing it when he got ventilated.
In town today, I noticed as I was putting some groceries in the side box of my truck, that two guys in a nearby Jap car looked at eachother as I walked away, not getting into my truck. As soon as I circled a bread truck and came back around one of em was by my side box and the other was moving the car closer. Me n my buddy, (that would be my 1911), offered him the chance to Get the Fuck out of this parking lot now or die beside my truck. Using all the integrity that he could muster, he jumped into the car and they left.
Were are all the complaints about this being a feel good story like the one we had on Saturday
Ex-PH2: “Four rounds appeared to have been fired from the six-shot gun, according to evidence photos.” Looks to me like Stevens quit firing after 4 shots (out of a possible 6) and did in fact keep “2 in reserve”. (smile)
If he’s going to use four .38 caliber bullets, it might behoove him in the future to back them with a tad more powder and a longer cartridge case. Might save him a round or two.
John (18),
In retrospect, I think Saturday I was responding to (complaining about) the apparent lack of human feeling for the girlfriend’s brokenheartedness over her boyfriend’s needing to be shot.
She was brokenhearted over his death, but admitted it was a “kill or be killed” situation. And because she held his hand as he died, somebody quipped, “What the hell is wrong with people?”
But in this case, the intended victim evidently had no emotional ties to the perp whatsoever.
I like to hear stories of good triumphing over evil, too. I just think it’s asinine to run down people whose idea of an emotional relationship is obviously messed up.
Hondo, quality always counts ahead of quantity. A well-aimed shot is, in a word, ‘everything’. 🙂
Many, many moons ago, I was on my home from work one night. I was still in WDC, driving home from NAVPHOTOCEN. I noticed I was being followed. No matter what lane I moved into, the person following me moved there, too. I had friends who raised Great Danes for shows, and would let them out into their yard at night to patrol for raccoons.
I headed there, hoping they were still up. On the way, to see if I really was being followed, I pulled into a gas station and the pursuer pulled in just as I opened the door, as if to get out.
I still had the engine running. He stopped. I shut the door and took off toward my friends’ house. He followed.
There was no one else on the road, not even a cop car, so I sped on and pulled into my friends’ driveway. It attracted the dogs’ attention, and the owner’s, too and they all came to the gate. I told him what was going on, so he opened the gate and let one of the dogs out while the others barked and growled. I was standing there when that jackass pulled into the driveway right behind my car and opened the door to get out. I let go of the big dog next to me. He went for the kill.
The pursuer slammed his door shut and took off.
Rule #22: Don’t mess with the girl with a big dog.
#20 David,
Sure, upgrade to a .357. Backwards compatable with .38.
The article indicates Lonnie the punk only got hit once (in the gut), and that appeared to have been sufficient to incapacitate him. Lucky for him he didn’t get “everything” from Mr. Stevens.
Great story!
The scumbags are getting a bit bolder. Either that or normal people are paying attention.
In the future, please empty the chamber on the perp. Benefits:
1) there will only be one side of the story told
2) easier to claim you were in fear for your life
3) the rest of us don’t have to pay his medical bills
B Woodman: be careful. I hope you meant “get rid of his .38 and buy a .357 plus some .357 ammo for it”.
A .357 can indeed fire .38 ammo – but that’s just a bigger gun firing .38 special ammo. That’s might save a few $$$ while target shooting, but isn’t so good for personal protection. It’s still .38 special ammo.
And from what I’ve read, most .38s can’t generally accept .357 ammo. That’s by design – many .38s, particularly many older ones, reportedly simply aren’t built strong enough to handle .357 ammo. A cylinder blowing up is not a “good thing”.
Hondo – more like “almost NO .38 will accept .357 ammo” – the cartridge case is a bit over .10 longer to prevent chambering the wrong ammo. Just like you can chamber .44 Russian or .44 Special in a .44 Mag, but not the other way around. If anyone can successfully chamber .357s in their .38, they neeed to run, not walk, to the nearest sledgehammer and pound that gun into tinfoil.
The old St. Louis load (soft swaged 158gr HP .38) was a very effective .38, on a par with FMJs in may larger calibers, but unless you have a real good reason like rapid-fire recovery issues, most .38s are generally inferior.
I approve of the stories where the good guy (or gal) gets the drop on the *critter*. Speaking of .38’s, I ran around with a county constable out in West Texas for a few years in the 90’s and he carried a .38 as his primary and loaded with HP’s. Seriously. For target practice he always shot light loads (forget what he said) His back-ups were a Remington 12ga and Winchester 30-30 his father gave him way back when.
Yeah hollow points!
Here is another citizen that disregarded the Vice President’s advice: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/03/10/south-carolina-sheriff-man-kicked-in-door-shot-by-homeowner/?intcmp=obinsite