Homeowner Kills Would-be Intruder

by Tracey Christensen
Last Updated: 1/11/01 8:35:50 AM

Originally reported on http://www.11alive.com, Atlanta, GA

Police in Fulton County say a homeowner fired back on some would-be intruders, killing one of the men.

The two men broke into the back of a home on Browns Mill Road just before 11 p.m. Wednesday. The homeowner and two suspects exchanged gunfire.

Police found one of the suspects dead at the scene. The other is in critical condition at Grady Memorial Hospital.

The homeowner received a gunshot wound to the leg. Police say no charges will be filed against him.

Follow-up Report from Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ 

Man, dog foil home invaders
Joshua B. Good - Staff
Friday, January 12, 2001

An Atlanta man shot it out with three home-invasion robbers Wednesday night, killing one and critically injuring another.

And Christopher Quilling says he survived the shootout because of his Rottweiler named Guinness.

The ordeal began around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday when three armed men snuck up on a house in a dark, wooded lot on Browns Mill Road in southeast Atlanta.

Using a 24-year-old resident of the house as a shield, they forced their way inside.

The robbers ordered the woman and Quilling to the floor, pointing guns to their heads as they demanded to know where money and marijuana was hidden in the house. The woman said the robbers must have mistaken them for someone else. "We're not drug dealers," she said.

Then Guinness, one of Quilling's dogs, attacked a robber, Quilling said. It was enough of a distraction for him to jump up and grab his own gun --- a 9 mm Glock. "My dog saved my life," Quilling said.

One robber shot Quilling in the leg. Quilling returned fire. The gun battle left one robber dead with a gunshot wound to his head and one other critically injured with shots to his head and shoulder.

By Thursday afternoon, police still did not know the dead man's name. The survivor, who was in critical condition at Grady Memorial Hospital, was Victor A. Middlebrooks Jr., 20, of Atlanta, police said. The third man ran out of the house and drove away. Middlebrooks was charged with murder because he was involved in a felony that ended in his partner's death, said Atlanta police Lt. Mike Smith.

Quilling was also treated at Grady and sent home Thursday. Police did not charge him, saying he shot the robbers in self-defense.

"Unfortunately one of them got killed," Quilling said Thursday afternoon, his lip quivering as he held back his emotions.

"But they shouldn't have been robbing us."

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