Defensive gun use (DGU) weekly roundup

Covering seventeen incidents that hit the news from April 19-25, 2026.

Apr 29, 2026

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Welcome to another weekly round-up. Is your state in the list?

Note that we don’t pretend that this represents every newsroom that covered any given story. And everyone is innocent until proved guilty.

To the stories!

Alabama

Midfield

Court victory! Last Friday, Reuben Gillam went before a judge for a Stand Your Ground hearing over a shooting death of Anthony Young that he had been charged with in 2023.

During a gathering, Young approached Gillam — the judge noted in his ruling that Young was 6 feet tall, weighed 280 pounds, and was twenty years younger than Gillam — and demanded money, standing “chest-to-chest” with him in an intimidating manner. When Gillam tried to push Young away from him, Young hit the older man, put him in a headlock, then kicked and beat him while Gillam was on the ground, leaving shoe prints on Gillam’s shirt.

It was at this point that Gillam pulled his legally owned gun and fired once at Young, who later died at the hospital.

The judge found that Gillam “had a legal right to stand his ground, had no duty to retreat, and was justified in using deadly physical force in self-defense.”

Judge Carpenter thus dismissed all the charges against Gillam. One wonders why he was charged in the first place.

Arizona

Phoenix

Isaac Cordova-Fregoso, 25, forced his way into a West Phoenix home in the wee hours of April 18th and was shot by a resident.

Cordova-Fregoso died at the scene, while the shooter was interviewed and released, with police describing the evidence as consistent with the shooter’s self-defense story.

California

Barstow

Another court victory! A retired Air Force veteran, Patrick Dull, was acquitted of murder and manslaughter for the February 2024 shooting Ryan Dazzi.

Although Dazzi was unarmed at the time of the shooting, he had come by Dull’s house at 1 AM to throw a rock through a window of the home.

While Dull was boarding up the window at 2:15am, Dazzi returned and approached Dull from behind in the front porch of Dull’s home, threatened him, and then charged toward him.

Dull fired once, hitting Dazzi, and then called police.

Dazzi later died at the hospital, and Dull was charged.

Though acquitted, Dull spend two years defending himself in the shooting.

Air Force Veteran Acquitted of Murder After Jury Accepts Self-Defense Claim in Fatal Front Porch Shooting (USACarry)
Barstow veteran acquitted of murder, manslaughter in fatal shooting (Victorville Daily Press)

Florida

Ft. Lauderdale

In an impressive feat of marksmanship during canine chaos, a man walking his leashed dog had to fire on four other unleashed and aggressive dogs who attacked him and his pet, and he hit all four of them. Two of the dogs died, and two others were treated. The man’s leashed dog was seriously injured by the attacking dogs and had to be treated by a vet. The owner of the four dogs was also mildly injured on his hand by his own dogs and had to be treated at the hospital.

Police said the owner of the dogs may face fines and various charges related to the attack — there had been prior trouble with the dogs running unleashed — and noted that the shooter is unlikely to face charges since it appears he acted in self-defense.

Man walking his dog shoots four attacking dogs, Fort Lauderdale police say (Miami Herald)

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