WILLMAR, MINNESOTA — A Willmar homeowner returned home to find a man wielding a knife in the middle of his living room. Using his pistol, which he was licensed to carry, he held the suspect at gunpoint and called 911. During the encounter, he allowed the suspect to leave after putting his buck knife down. Police caught up to the suspect, 37-year-old by the name of Shane Fellers. He was found inside a vehicle being operated by an unknown woman. Both were taken into custody and, according to the West Central Tribune, Fellers was held on a $70,000 unconditional bail for first degree burglary and burglary with a dangerous weapon. He also allegedly supplied the police officer with an incorrect name when he was initially apprehended — tacking on an additional misdemeanor.
All in all, coming home to find a man wielding a knife in your living room is certainly a strange way to end the day. That said, it’s why concealed carriers can never let their guard down — even when they’re home sweet home.
While it was mighty curious why the homeowner decided to let the armed burglar leave, ultimately when you’re in your own defensive gun use situation — you have to make the rules that you can live by. For this man, it appears ensuring the police were on their way and the suspect would be apprehended were good enough. For others, they may have a different idea of how they want to end it. One thing’s for certain, that homeowner won’t have to break out the seltzer water on his living room carpet — an ordeal no homeowner should have to face needlessly.
As for the suspect in custody, it’s become a weird occurrence where burglars target homes with little to no hard “reason”. This is something that’s caught me off-guard a few times when reporting on these subjects because I’m constantly asking myself, “why did they choose here? Why not somewhere else?”
The armed burglar, in this case, chose well in the sense that he wasn’t shot while caught red-handed holding a knife in another man’s living room. So, in those terms, he did really well for himself. However, his selection process for homes to burglarize may need some updating after he gets out of prison in the next decade. Also, a 37-year-old man doing the burglaries is a bit of a surprise. Aren’t you a bit old for this line of work? Seeing spry 17, 18, 19-year-olds attempting this sort of behavior is perplexing enough but they’re just young enough to do something really idiotic once. Almost hitting that 40-mark and doing that? There’s some serious life considerations at play.
In either case, good job concealed carry homeowner and good job criminal for realizing you were dead-to-rights and not attempting to do something dumber than you had already done.