Man believes he fought back and managed to get his gun just in time
WTVM.com-Columbus, GA News Weather
Timo Hernandez said he felt like if hadn’t had his firearm, this news story would have been about him and his mother’s murders.
Last Wednesday afternoon around 5pm, Decatur resident Timo Hernandez, 28, and his visiting mother were sitting down for a chili dinner when they heard a knock on the door.
“When I opened the door, these two guys stormed in with guns and started pistol-whipping me and took me to the ground,” Hernandez recounted to WTVM.
The homeowner said one of the intruders next targeted his mother.
“He started pistol whipping and kicking her in the side,” Hernandez described.
Fortunately, one intruder made the mistake of leading Hernandez to the extra bedroom where he kept his father’s old hunting rifle. That’s when the resident was able to turn the tables on his attacker.
“He put a gun to my head, and I just started fighting back.”
Hernandez grabbed the stashed gun and began firing at the two assailants, putting bullets in both and sending them fleeing out the door.Bullets struck both men. Wounded, they both fled the house. One collapsed dead in a neighbor’s yard. The other man hopped in a getaway car, but later collapsed in the parking lot of a Zaxby’s restaurant. He remained in critical condition until passing Thursday from his wounds. Police believe the men had been trying to impersonate police officers. Police badges and zip ties were found at the scene, police said.
Hernandez, his face swollen and bruised from being pistol-whipped, is glad he had protection.
“I feel like if I hadn’t had the gun in there, this whole news story would be about me and my mother being dead in this house,” he said.
Even so, he still can’t get past the fact that he killed someone. He offered an apology to the families of the men he shot.
“I never want to hurt anybody like that, but they put me in a situation, and I only reacted to it,” said Hernandez. “It sucks that a man lost his life yesterday, but I had to protect my family.”
Hernandez said his mother remains hospitalized.” She suffered a heart attack after police officers arrived,” he said.
Here’s just one, out of the countless number of defensive gun uses that happen every day. This man and his mother could have been murdered, like so many others are every day during burglaries gone wrong. He knew that if he didn’t do something it would have been the end for them.
It’s tragic that many others don’t realize this until it’s too late.
Many people don’t ever use the guns they bought for protection, but it always pays to be armed just in case. It’s always better safe than sorry.
I’ve never used a fire extinguisher since I’ve been alive or even seen one used, but it is important to always have one there just in case.
Most people that own guns for protection are like this man, we don’t want murder or death and it is an incredibly hard thing, but we need to be able to defend ourselves. We need to have the constitutional right to bear arms that was put in place to save lives.
