Safe Owners Targeted in Home Invasions

[Pat McGarrity]

It is a blessing that neither Mr. Dratnol, nor the Germantown couple were not murdered by these monsters. Odds are that this crew is going to target the wrong home owner (or right one, depending on one's perspective) sooner or later and that will be the end of this trend.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding her statement, but especially by her tone in the video; the neighbor seems to imply there is something wrong with owning a safe. "How many people have safes in their home, I don't know many." People buy safes to protect their valuables from criminals, that's why they are called SAFES. Gun owners making the investment in a safe are being very responsible. The blame needs to be directed at the criminals preying on people minding their own business in their homes.

In Liberty,

Patriot Pat

The most enduring political premise of our time is that the poor have been robbed and that the rich ought to be. The debate focuses not on the ethics of robbery, but merely on whom should be robbed.

The end result is for the citizenry to accept robbery as a legitimate function of government.

http://www.wreg.com/Global/story.asp?S=7575670


Posted by Kelly Hessedal

Elderly man handcuffed and attacked in home invasion

4 masked men armed with guns break into house near Shelby Forest
Handcuff 71-year-old victim
No arrests yet
(SHELBY COUNTY, TN 1/3/2008) Four masked robbers broke into an elderly man's home early Thursday morning near Shelby Forest.

It happened near the 6200 block of Shelby Trail in North Shelby County. 71-year-old Robert Dratnol was sleeping when he heard someone breaking into a side door of his house.

Four men wearing masks and gloves, armed with guns handcuffed him and ordered him to open his safe.

They stole cash and jewelry. But the worst part came when Dratnol listened to the robbers argue about his fate.

"They said, 'Should we cripple him or kill him?' At that point the man didn't know what was going to happen," said Steve Shular, spokesperson for the Shelby County Sheriff's Dept. "He was really wondering there for a few moments if he would come out of this alive."

One of the masked men pushed Dratnol into a bookshelf. He suffered a bump to the head, but was able to make it to a neighbor's to call for help.

"We're still trying to determine a motive and see if its related to any other cases," said Shular.

Similar incidents have happened recently. In December, a group of masked robbers with guns broke into a Germantown home. They pistolwhipped and handcuffed a couple in their 60s and ordered them to open their safe.

Germantown police believe the couple was targeted.

Dratnol's neighbor, Diana Widner, wonders if he was too.

"He's had a lot of work done on his house, so it could be an inside job, if they knew he had a safe," said Widner. "How many people have safes in their home, I don't know many."

There still haven't been any arrests yet in that Germantown case. Right now authorities don't know if its connected to the this one, but it's certainly something the Shelby County Sheriff's Department and Germantown police are looking into.

If you have any information that might help them, call Crimestoppers at 528-CASH.