The disabled Vietnam veteran said he discovered a knife-wielding male intruder breaking into the bedroom of his Albuquerque, New Mexico, home Monday morning and taking his gun.
Danny Ricketts He told KOB-TV He grabbed a gun from his nightstand and shot the alleged intruder, then called police.
“I looked at the window and I didn’t see any blood, I didn’t see any bodies, so I thought I’d missed it at first, and I was kind of thankful for that.”
“I saw a knife underneath the window and it was rocking back and forth and the window was up,” Ricketts said of the incident.
Ricketts added that he keeps a gun close by because he suffers from PTSD, is an amputee and uses a wheelchair.
“I keep a pistol under my hat on my nightstand. I reached over and took it, and I still don’t know what I said, but I said something like, ‘What are you doing, get out of here,'” he recalled.
Ricketts said he fired one shot, but the suspect fled. Initially, he thought the shot had missed.
“I looked at the window, I didn’t see any blood, I didn’t see any body, so I thought I’d missed it at first and I was grateful for that,” he added.
Security camera footage from a nearby neighborhood showed the suspect fleeing the scene, and police said he was wounded by gunfire in the street and later died at a hospital.
Albuquerque police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said the department believes Ricketts acted in self-defense, but the investigation is ongoing.
“This man called police the other day, apparently retrieved his gun and told them exactly what happened,” Gallegos added, warning people not to tail suspects as they are not protected by the law in some cases.
“We’ve seen instances where people may have felt scared, but they continue to chase and shoot at the perpetrator, and it really raises the question of whether they are protecting their own life at that point,” he explained. “You can protect yourself if you’re in fear of harm, you can protect others, but you can’t use lethal force to protect your property.”
The District Attorney’s Office will decide whether Ricketts will face charges.
Cobb The interview was published He spoke with Ricketts on the station’s YouTube video channel.
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