Man shot after breaking in through back door of home
DANIEL BETHENCOURT – The Advocate
A married couple tried to break into a Baton Rouge home Tuesday morning — until a homeowner shot and killed the husband, authorities say.
The husband, who had a violent criminal history, was armed with a crowbar, authorities added.
The incident began about 10 a.m. Tuesday, when 31-year-old Jermoid Wheeler began using a crowbar to break down the back door of a home in the 600 block of Summer Breeze Drive, said Casey Rayborn Hicks, a Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.
The sound of Wheeler beating at the door woke up the homeowner — who grabbed a firearm and proceeded down the hall, where he could see someone was trying to break in, Hicks said.
The homeowner told deputies he then ordered Wheeler several times to stop, but Wheeler ignored him, broke the door open and walked toward him with the crowbar, Hicks said.
The homeowner fired a single shot, killing Wheeler at the scene, Hicks said.
At that point, Wheeler’s wife, Deneatrice Cage-Wheeler, 36, reportedly ran into the home and grabbed the crowbar before walking back out.
This story is all sorts of strange. First, we have a married couple committing a violent home invasion together. They did not simply try to break into a home, they went together and bashed down a door with a crowbar.
If that was not strange enough, they failed to heed the warning of the homeowner who informed them he had a weapon and would shoot them if they continued. Usually, this is when burglars run off once they have been made and threatened with a firearm.
However, the husband kept going until they gained access to the house where the homeowner, with one discharge, shot and killed the husband. The wife left, then came back into the home to retrieve the crowbar – despite watching her husband just get shot and killed for going into the house.
There is obviously more to this story, but these are all the details available right now. Either this married couple were on some serious drugs and simply made some very bad decisions while on said drugs, or they had some specific thing they were trying to get from within the house.
Either way, chalk this one up for justice and self defense. Had the homeowner not been armed and prepared to defend himself, there is no telling what this insane could would have done to him and his family.
