WINTER HAVEN, FL — A man who was forced to defend himself against a group of six angry attackers earlier this month was defended by local law enforcement this week, The Ledger reports.
The county sheriff backed the shooter, Charles Peddycoart, stating that he really did have reason to fight for his life when mobbed by half a dozen men.
Sadly enough, the entire fight was started because of a lost dog.
As The Ledger reports:
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd defended the actions of a Fort Meade man who shot and killed one man and wounded two others Monday in a dispute over a missing pit bull named Princess. Judd said it’s up to the State Attorney’s Office to decide whether charges are warranted in the shooting, but the evidence so far indicates that Charles Peddycoart, 48, was defending his life and that of his girlfriend when he drew a 9mm handgun on his front porch.
“Charles was defending himself and his girlfriend under the front porch of his house, under imminent threat,” Judd said at a Thursday afternoon news conference at his Winter Haven headquarters.
Also on Thursday, Judd’s office released a recording of the shooting that depicts a live account of Peddycoart’s girlfriend calling a 911 dispatcher. The woman, who has not yet been identified, is all but drowned out by loud voices. Judd said the girlfriend can be heard yelling: “We didn’t touch your dog.” There are more screams as gunshots erupt.
According to Judd, the incident was the result of an erroneous assumption on the part of Calvin Johnson, who accused Peddycoart, a neighbor, of stealing his dog. An investigation revealed that the dog had followed Peddycoart and his girlfriend as they walked earlier on Monday to a nearby Dollar General store. The dog was later picked up by a woman and her 15-year-old son, who took the animal home. Princess had no collar or any identification, Judd said, and the mother and son assumed it was a stray.
As you might surmise, after the dog was discovered missing, Johnson, and his roommates, Teconsa McDonald and Edward Burgess, decided to confront Peddycoart along with three other friends who waited behind him, in what must have been the single lamest posse for “justice” this side of the Mississippi.
Johnson and his buddies were clearly the aggressors, but they sure picked the wrong guy to confront. Peddycoart happens to be a veteran, and with shots fired from his gun he wounded Johnson twice center mass, Burgess once center mass, and killed McDonald with a shot to his left side.
That is one heck of a way to turn the tables on your attackers. The equalizer isn’t just for leveling the odds between smaller citizens and big thugs.
It works just fine for numbers, too.
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