Guns and Gear

Georgia Homeowner Uses ‘Semi-Automatic Rifle’ To Return Fire Against Three Masked Attackers. None Survived

(KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images)

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A Georgia homeowner returned fire against three would-be robbers early Monday morning, killing all three.

Two 16-year-olds and a 15-year-old reportedly covered their faces and approached a Conyers, Georgia, residence around 4 a.m. Monday, according to the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office.

The homeowner was outside along with another man and a woman with him at the residence. When one of the would-be robbers took out a gun and began firing, the homeowner shot back.

“The victims of the attempted robbery were all uninjured, but the three attempted robbery suspects were all shot during the exchange of gunfire and succumbed to their injuries, one on scene and two at a local hospital after being transported,” said sheriff’s department in a news release, according to CNN.

“I heard a guy yelling for help. ‘Help me, help me, I’m dying, I’m dying, help me, help me,” neighbor Brian Jenkins told CNN affiliate WSB.

Carlos Watson, a neighbor who ran outside to help told the network he heard five handgun shots, then “a slew of shots” from what he thought was “an assault rifle.” (RELATED: One Of Georgia’s Safest Cities REQUIRES Its Citizens To Own A Gun, But CNN Doesn’t Know Why Crime Is So Low)

Neighbors told WSB that the homeowner does own a semi-automatic rifle and is a truck driver who is “highly protective of his mother,” the outlet reported.

The sheriff’s office told CNN the teens, whose names have not been released, did not live in the neighborhood but were from the area. (RELATED: Dana Loesch Question On Gun Control Stops Eric Swalwell In His Tracks)

The shooting is currently under investigation. Rockdale County Sheriff Eric Levett told CNN this could be a “stand-your-ground type of case.”

From CNN:

Georgia’s self-defense laws say that someone generally can use deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to “prevent death or great bodily injury to himself or herself or a third person or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” There are exceptions, including that the defender cannot have provoked the attack.

There is also no duty to retreat in Georgia law, but the defender has “the right to stand his or her ground and use force.”