Good Guy with a Gun #28: Susquehanna Township, PA
Original incident: November 27, 2023. An armed man spots an easy target and demands his car. When the victim retrieves a shotgun, the incident ends with an arrested carjacker and no shots fired.
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Susquehanna Township is a suburb of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A man was working at home there when, just around quitting time, Jamel Jackson approached him. (It’s not clear how. Was the man outside? Did Jackson rang the doorbell? Something else?)
Jackson brandished a gun and demanded the homeowner’s vehicle.
The man was wise; he walked Jackson to his car. But he also wasn’t capitulating: He knew that there was a shotgun waiting for him inside it.
Sure enough, when they reached the vehicle, the homeowner was able to retrieve it and train it on Jackson.
With the tables turned, Jackson bolted — but didn’t get far. He was stopped by a fence, where the homeowner held him at gunpoint until police arrived.
Jackson was arrested by police and charged with attempted robbery, terroristic threats, criminal mischief, and trespass.
No shots were fired. This is something many people don’t understand: Though guns are indeed designed to kill, their best defensive use is often brandishing or drawing down on someone. From a defensive perspective, the point of any weapon is to neutralize the threat, not necessarily to kill or even hurt someone.
Sources
Honestly, the only source you really need is the Susquehanna Township PD report. Everything else just repeats that information. I have to say that it’s nice to see a PD that keeps older reports and links — many don’t, or don’t have an easy way to find old reports.
Local news sources that covered this incident include ABC 27, WGAL 8, Local 21 News, and Fox 43. I don’t see any TV / video coverage at all.
I didn’t see any coverage of this incident in the 2A community.
That thing that never happens, happens every day.
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