Good Guy with a Gun #207: Carmichael, CA
“New boyfriend had a gun, registered to him, legally obtained, legally owned, everything else, and shot the ex-boyfriend.” — Sacramento County Sheriff's Office | Original incident: May 26, 2024
These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is somewhat updated from the calendar version.
Noah was apparently well-liked in the neighborhood where he and his girlfriend shared an apartment with her two kids.
Neighbors told Fox 40 things like, “Everybody loved Noah. He was a good guy. He took care of all these kids in the neighborhood more than the parents did half the time,” and “We called him Neighborhood Watch, because he’s out here, he takes care of the kids, the kids love the guy. We all loved the guy.”
But things weren’t perfect between him and his girlfriend — she kicked him out about two weeks prior to the incident I’m about to describe.
He arrived at his now-ex’s apartment at around 1:30 AM on a Sunday morning. Maybe he was up late from Saturday night, which carries its own potential explanatory power. Unfortunately, we have no information about potential intoxication or Noah’s state of mind beyond his actions.
He pounded on the door for 20-25 minutes. Finally, his ex-girlfriend opened the door — the neighbors say she “let him in,” while the police say that he forced his way in.
From there, he entered her bedroom, where her new boyfriend was in bed.
Did Noah know the new boyfriend was going to be there? Unclear, but Noah attacked the man and started choking him.
The new beau grabbed a gun from under his pillow and shot Noah once, then immediately called 911.
Noah died at the scene.
The gun was fully legal — no, they still haven’t fully extirpated gun ownership in California — as was the shooting.
In a summary so concise that I’m shamelessly stealing it for this post’s tagline, Sergeant Amar Gandhi from the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office said, “New boyfriend had a gun, registered to him, legally obtained, legally owned, everything else, and actually shot the ex-boyfriend.”
Local attorney Michael Wise told CBS News, “If this gentleman was presented with a lethal threat that he did not trigger in any way, then he's entitled to defend himself and kill that intruder.”
I appreciate CBS’s further commentary from Mr. Wise, since it educates people about situations beyond the scope of this precise incident:
Gandhi said the gun that was used was legal and registered to the man who pulled the trigger, but even if it had not been, Wise said it still would have been justified.
“Ironically you can still be charged for illegal possession of a firearm if you’re not allowed to possess one, but the actual use of deadly force to defend yourself is still justified even if you use a weapon that is not registered in California or if you’re not allowed to possess one,” Wise said.
But, again, illegal possession wasn’t an issue here. Nor were the neighbors’ nice words about Noah. In fact, the neighbors who were so complimentary about Noah also corroborated the story that the police tell.
One neighbor, clearly implying that Noah had not been violent because he was let into the home, said that Noah had been pounding on the door for 25 minutes and that “they opened the door for him.” She asked, “Why didn’t she call the police?” But neither the fact that they didn’t call police nor that she let him is relevant to the self-defense discussion.
This is something Sergeant Gandhi knows well. He told Fox 40, “And he may very well have been a good guy; we’ve got to look at the facts of the case as it was presented to us, with the evidence that we’re able to prove.”
The DA declined to press charges.
Sources
Tory Apodaca did great work on this story for CBS 13 in Sacramento in a 2:47 segment that you can watch below.
Fox 40 had a video segment, with no text that I can find, that provides Noah’s first name and has the neighbors’ reactions.
The Sacramento Bee and KCRA 3 also covered this story.
2A / Specialist media
Sean Holt covered this incident at USACarry. Carlos Garcia covered it for Blaze Media.