<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by WAGCEVP: http://www.sierratimes.com/rwaters.htm
The Self Defense Files "An Extraordinarily Gruesome Case," or Why
Everyone Needs a Gun
Posted: 09.04.00 by Robert A. Waters
When Hayward Bissell and his girlfriend Patricia Ann Booher left Ohio on
a trip to Florida, no one could have guessed that they would soon make
front-page news. Though the national media reported the sensational
aspects of the case, only local newspapers wrote about the woman who
saved herself and her husband from Bissell's insane rage.
On January 23, 2000, the six-foot tall, four-hundred pound man drove
into a parking lot in Chattooga County, Georgia and stabbed Booher to
death. Less than an hour later, his car rear-ended a second automobile
near Fort Payne, Alalbama. Donald Pirch, the driver of the second
vehicle, pulled to the side of the road, got out his insurance papers,
and walked toward Bissell. Suddenly, the madman punched down the
accelerator and raced toward Pirch, striking him. Pirch was dragged
150 feet as Bissell sped away from the scene. Finally, the car lurched
around a curve, throwing Pirch off and saving his life.
An hour later, Bissell had found his way to Mentone, Alabama.
James Pumphrey was sitting on the front porch of his rural home when
Bissell pulled into the driveway. The killer walked up the steps, and,
without a word, began stabbing the homeowner. As the madman continued
to thrust the knife into Pumphrey, the homeowner's two Labrador
retrievers rushed to their master's aid. Bissell then turned on the
dogs, stabbing them and cutting their throats.
Carolyn Pumphrey had been working inside the house when the attack
began. She retrieved a .22 rifle and raced outside. As soon as Carolyn
aimed the gun at the assailant, he yelled, "Don't shoot me, I'm
leaving."
Bissell fled, not knowing that the rifle had jammed.
The climax to Bissell's murderous spree ended one of the most bizarre
cases in Alabama history. When DeKalb County sheriff's deputies stopped
his car, they found the corpse of Patricia Ann Booher strapped to the
front seat by the seat-belt. Her hand and leg had been amputated, her
eyes had been gouged out, and her heart had been removed.
Stunned investigators found her esophagus in Bissell's shirt pocket.
After being arrested, the prisoner tore up his cell, causing havoc in
the small county jail. He was eventually transferred to a mental
hospital to await trial for murder, attempted murder, and numerous other
charges.
James Pumphrey survived the attack, but barely. He could not work for
months, and his medical bills were astronomical.
The crimes of serial killers and spree killers, who also choose their
victims at random, have been well-documented. But little has been
written about mentally deranged killers such as Bissell. Investigators
found that in an on-again off-again relationship, he had often stalked
Booher and tried to control her every move. At the time of his arrest
he was being treated by an Ohio mental health facility, but had stopped
taking his medication.
After the attack, Carolyn Pumphrey credited her gun with saving two
lives. "If it wasn't for the gun that day," she said, "we would have
both been killed. People have the right to defend themselves, and if we
didn't have that rifle, we wouldn't be here.
A second random attack by a mentally unbalanced man was also thwarted
because a bystander had a gun.
On January 29, 1998, Donnie Neal Moore, a paranoid-schizophrenic, became
involved in a dispute with a Tulsa, Oklahoma apartment manager. Police
reported that an enraged Moore "ran outside and pulled a medical monitor
from the waist of an 80-year-old woman who was walking in the parking
lot." He slammed the monitor to the pavement, knocked the woman down,
and broke her walker. Then he began to run across the parking lot.
At that moment, a woman was getting out of her car carrying her
two-year-old daughter. Moore grabbed the baby from her mother's arms
and ran.
Gene Case, doing landscape work at the complex, ran to his truck,
reached into his glove box, and retrieved his licensed .45-caliber
semiautomatic handgun. He then raced across the parking lot and cut off
the escape route of the assailant. Leveling his pistol at the man, Case
yelled, "Stop! Put the child down, or I'm going to kill you!"
When police arrived, they found the attacker lying on the ground,
subdued by the armed citizen. After it was over, Case said, "I only
took the gun out when he ran off with that child. I have never pulled a
gun on anyone before. The mother was screaming for her child. She was
quite upset."
Moore was later found unfit to stand trial and placed in a mental
institution.
A police officer referred to Bissell's rampage as "extraordinarily
gruesome." Tulsa police praised the restraint of Gene Case in not
shooting the mentally unbalanced kidnapper. In each case, an irrational
attacker who came face to face with a gun suddenly developed a
fine-tuned sense of reality, culminating in lives being saved.
Carolyn Pumphrey may have said it best. "I know there are people in the
government who want more gun control," she said. "But I'll tell you,
it's good to have a gun when you need it."[/quote]
The Self Defense Files "An Extraordinarily Gruesome Case," or Why
Everyone Needs a Gun
Posted: 09.04.00 by Robert A. Waters
When Hayward Bissell and his girlfriend Patricia Ann Booher left Ohio on
a trip to Florida, no one could have guessed that they would soon make
front-page news. Though the national media reported the sensational
aspects of the case, only local newspapers wrote about the woman who
saved herself and her husband from Bissell's insane rage.
On January 23, 2000, the six-foot tall, four-hundred pound man drove
into a parking lot in Chattooga County, Georgia and stabbed Booher to
death. Less than an hour later, his car rear-ended a second automobile
near Fort Payne, Alalbama. Donald Pirch, the driver of the second
vehicle, pulled to the side of the road, got out his insurance papers,
and walked toward Bissell. Suddenly, the madman punched down the
accelerator and raced toward Pirch, striking him. Pirch was dragged
150 feet as Bissell sped away from the scene. Finally, the car lurched
around a curve, throwing Pirch off and saving his life.
An hour later, Bissell had found his way to Mentone, Alabama.
James Pumphrey was sitting on the front porch of his rural home when
Bissell pulled into the driveway. The killer walked up the steps, and,
without a word, began stabbing the homeowner. As the madman continued
to thrust the knife into Pumphrey, the homeowner's two Labrador
retrievers rushed to their master's aid. Bissell then turned on the
dogs, stabbing them and cutting their throats.
Carolyn Pumphrey had been working inside the house when the attack
began. She retrieved a .22 rifle and raced outside. As soon as Carolyn
aimed the gun at the assailant, he yelled, "Don't shoot me, I'm
leaving."
Bissell fled, not knowing that the rifle had jammed.
The climax to Bissell's murderous spree ended one of the most bizarre
cases in Alabama history. When DeKalb County sheriff's deputies stopped
his car, they found the corpse of Patricia Ann Booher strapped to the
front seat by the seat-belt. Her hand and leg had been amputated, her
eyes had been gouged out, and her heart had been removed.
Stunned investigators found her esophagus in Bissell's shirt pocket.
After being arrested, the prisoner tore up his cell, causing havoc in
the small county jail. He was eventually transferred to a mental
hospital to await trial for murder, attempted murder, and numerous other
charges.
James Pumphrey survived the attack, but barely. He could not work for
months, and his medical bills were astronomical.
The crimes of serial killers and spree killers, who also choose their
victims at random, have been well-documented. But little has been
written about mentally deranged killers such as Bissell. Investigators
found that in an on-again off-again relationship, he had often stalked
Booher and tried to control her every move. At the time of his arrest
he was being treated by an Ohio mental health facility, but had stopped
taking his medication.
After the attack, Carolyn Pumphrey credited her gun with saving two
lives. "If it wasn't for the gun that day," she said, "we would have
both been killed. People have the right to defend themselves, and if we
didn't have that rifle, we wouldn't be here.
A second random attack by a mentally unbalanced man was also thwarted
because a bystander had a gun.
On January 29, 1998, Donnie Neal Moore, a paranoid-schizophrenic, became
involved in a dispute with a Tulsa, Oklahoma apartment manager. Police
reported that an enraged Moore "ran outside and pulled a medical monitor
from the waist of an 80-year-old woman who was walking in the parking
lot." He slammed the monitor to the pavement, knocked the woman down,
and broke her walker. Then he began to run across the parking lot.
At that moment, a woman was getting out of her car carrying her
two-year-old daughter. Moore grabbed the baby from her mother's arms
and ran.
Gene Case, doing landscape work at the complex, ran to his truck,
reached into his glove box, and retrieved his licensed .45-caliber
semiautomatic handgun. He then raced across the parking lot and cut off
the escape route of the assailant. Leveling his pistol at the man, Case
yelled, "Stop! Put the child down, or I'm going to kill you!"
When police arrived, they found the attacker lying on the ground,
subdued by the armed citizen. After it was over, Case said, "I only
took the gun out when he ran off with that child. I have never pulled a
gun on anyone before. The mother was screaming for her child. She was
quite upset."
Moore was later found unfit to stand trial and placed in a mental
institution.
A police officer referred to Bissell's rampage as "extraordinarily
gruesome." Tulsa police praised the restraint of Gene Case in not
shooting the mentally unbalanced kidnapper. In each case, an irrational
attacker who came face to face with a gun suddenly developed a
fine-tuned sense of reality, culminating in lives being saved.
Carolyn Pumphrey may have said it best. "I know there are people in the
government who want more gun control," she said. "But I'll tell you,
it's good to have a gun when you need it."[/quote]
