Good Guy with a Gun #215: Ponca City, OK
Ten years on drug charges. All but three suspended. Back in trouble in two. One home invasion. Zero lenient judges. | Original incident: June 2, 2024
These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is essentially the same as the calendar version.
Jacob Grudowski had been in trouble with the law before.
In December of 2018, he was sentenced to ten years on drug charges, but had all but three years suspended. In September of 2020 — less than two years later, funny how that works — the then-26-year-old was booked on drug and firearms charges.
But on a June evening in Ponca City, Oklahoma, no amount of judicial leniency could save him.
Grudowski had been involved in an “ongoing domestic situation” with residents of a certain home. He went there and tried to force his way in, shooting at some of the residents.
One of them shot back, and Grudowski will never commit a crime again.
For what it’s worth, criminals often seem to have bad aim: Grudowski didn’t hit anybody, but the defender hit him multiple times. As they say, gun control means hitting your target.
An aside: Who would have thought that there would be two miscreants with the name Jacob Grudowski? This story is about Jacob Scott Grudowski of Oklahoma, not the other Jacob Grudowski from New York who jumped on the hood of a moving Jeep Wrangler in 2023. That Grudowski bashed his head when the Wrangler stopped moving and he rolled off the front of the vehicle.
And you know, unlike Jacob S. Grudowski of Oklahoma, I haven’t seen him committing newsworthy crime since. Maybe consequences have consequences, or something.
Sources
The city of Ponca, Oklahoma, posted their report to Facebook.
Local news
Kay News Cow — your nose for news in Kay County! — has the story from 2020, which includes the background on the sentencing in 2018. There was also a roundup of a lot of arrests, and this story was among them. Plus they have a great logo.
Not only that, but they covered the shooting as only truly local news can. Everyone else says things like, “near West Central Avenue and South Flormable Street in Ponca City on Sunday.” But here’s how Kay News Cow tells it:
Just after a 7 p.m. police received multiple calls reporting shots fired near the home that sits behind the walking path at the Rec Plex.
Three people were walking on the path, located west of the softball fields, at the time the shots rang out. One reported hearing three sets of gunshots for a total of seven.
…complete with an image of the walking path. Don’t you feel like you know the place? Their Facebook page has an obvious deep connection to the locals as well. Great work by the local team.
The one thing I could ask for is a headline that doesn’t make the aggressor the victim; however, as they wrote the first article, they didn’t know that yet.
KOKO News 5, News 9, and Fox 25 also all covered the story, sticking to the police report.
2A / specialist media
The story was covered by Sean Holt at USACarry and Brandon Curtis at Concealed Nation.
Well told story, Jake. And "KayNewsCow" is fabulous!