VERONA, Ky. - —
One man is dead and two more are behind bars after an attempted home invasion Monday morning.

Police said a man broke into the basement and entered the first floor of a Boone County home in the 15000 block of Violet Road in Verona just after 2 a.m.

The homeowner, Earl Jones, 92, was awakened by a noise in his basement and grabbed his .22 caliber rifle. When the intruder came through the door from the basement, Jones fired a shot, police said.

He immediately called his neighbor, who then called 911.

Catina Hipp, spokeswoman for the Conway Police Department, reports the home invasion occurred just before 6 a.m. on Tuesday, August 21 at a home on the 1600 block of Ninth Avenue.

Hipp explains that the homeowner was asleep in his bed that morning when he awoke to find a man standing over him with a machete.

The homeowner claims the suspect tried to assault him with the machete but he was able to block the blow, receiving a small laceration to his hand in the struggle.

The victim then retrieved a firearm he stores under his pillow and shot the suspect in the abdomen.

Two suspects in an Atlanta home invasion were arrested Saturday night after being shot and beaten by the homeowner during the invasion, according to police.

Marques Hurley and Jabril Meyers were charged with burglary, armed robbery, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, cruelty to animals and aggravated assault, according to Atlanta Police spokeswoman Kim Jones. The homeowner’s dog was shot during the invasion.
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The police followed a bloody trail to a house on McDill Avenue where they found a dog in a cage with gunshot wounds, two semi-automatic weapons and the homeowner Braddon Robbins and two friends. Robbins told police he was outside his home earlier that evening when he was approached by a man he knew as “Curly” who asked him if he wanted to buy a television. Curly was later identified as Meyers. Robbins offered to give Meyers $150 for the TV. Meyers said he needed more and Robbins went inside his home to get the money. When he came back to the door, Meyers was holding a gun through the door and told Robbins to open the door or he would kill him. Meyers and Hurley then entered the home. Robbins said he got the gun away from Meyers and ran to the back of his home. Meyers grabbed another gun from his bag and began firing at Robbins. Meyers then shot Robbins’ dog . Robbins responded by shooting Meyers. He then yelled at Hurley to drop his gun, when Hurley did Robbins began beating Hurley. The two suspects later fled in a Green Ford Taurus which ended up in an accident. Robbins’ friends corroborated his story.

Shawn Dodson carries a gun in part because he doesn't ever again want to have to defend himself with soup, as he did several years ago. He was at a grocery store with his family when he saw a fight break out. He intervened, angering one of the participants, who left the store and returned with a group of friends. "Next thing I know I have half a dozen guys in my face. The police were so slow to respond. I was about to get my ass kicked," Dodson recalled. "I actually armed myself with a couple cans of soup."

Nowadays Dodson, a Florida resident who used to hunt with his father and worked in military law enforcement during his time in the Navy, packs something more powerful than Progresso or Chunky. Like hundreds of thousands of Americans, he carries a concealed handgun. "I carry as often as I can," Dodson says, "I don't like to leave it in my car because I think that makes it vulnerable. To me it's like a seatbelt. It's like if you're going to carry, you carry all the time."

It’s hard to say whether Dodson is representative of the typical concealed carrier. It is, however, very easy to conclude that the ranks of people who pack heat are growing.
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A City Limits survey of the 45 states that permit concealed carry (Illinois does not) and require a permit to do so (Alaska, Arizona, Vermont and Wyoming do not) finds the number of concealed carriers swelling—although differences in the manner and timing of reporting among states make it difficult to generate national statistics. Florida boats 956,000 permit holders, Utah some 380,000 and Washington 233,000. Other states report smaller totals but significant growth in their concealed carry population. New applications in Arkansas tripled from 2005 (4,800) to 2011 (16,000). Iowa saw the number of permits leap from 40,000 to 95,000 from 2010 to 2011. Ohio had 22,000 new issuances in 2007 and 50,000 last year.