"911 Tape Captures Horror Before Fatal Shooting"

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I originally posted in the wrong thread, but this one is downright spooky. Glad that the lady was armed. This could have easily been one of the threads where we were wishing that the victim was armed in order to prevent her death...
 
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The Story

911 Tape Captures Horror Before Fatal Shooting
No Charges In Fatal Shooting Of Home Invader

POSTED: 6:59 am CST January 10, 2008
UPDATED: 10:41 am CST January 10, 2008

HAMMOND, Ind. -- Police in Northwest Indiana have released the audio tape of an emergency call for help.

Audio: Full 911 Recording
Video: No Charges Filed

A woman was reportedly watching TV when she heard a window breaking in her home and called 911.

She then hid in a closet, armed with a gun.

The tape captures the woman struggling with a man, repeatedly saying, "Stop it. Stop it."

The woman eventually shot and killed the intruder. Police said she will not face charges, because she acted in self defense.
Click to expand...
 
Well, one less who thought that it was his "right" to beat his girl friend!
Good for her that she bought a gun that day!
 
http://nwi.com/articles/2008/01/10/news/lake_county/docc6e7d1ca7dcd2fee862573cc00081d1f.txt

HAMMOND | A Hessville woman will not be charged in the shooting death of a man accused of breaking into her home in November and stalking her.

(Listen to the 911 call)

Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter said on Wednesday he was turning down any charges against the woman in the death of Ryan Lee Bergner, 41, considering her actions to be in self-defense and defense of property.

The Nov. 12 shooting of Bergner as he cornered the 51-year-old woman in an upstairs bedroom closet capped a month of escalating terror -- chronicled in a series of police reports filed by the woman -- which included break-ins, vandalism and assaults in her workplace.

They had briefly dated over the summer, but Bergner couldn't accept that she didn't want to be his girlfriend, and wouldn't take "no" for an answer, the woman said.

That fatal Monday night, she was watching television at 10:30 p.m. when she heard a window breaking, and called 911.

An audio recording of her conversation with the emergency dispatcher, from the initial break-in to her escape from the dying Bergner six minutes later, was released by Hammond police on Wednesday.

"I'm so scared," the woman said to the 911 operator, who told her to lock herself in a bedroom until police arrived.

Bergner had already broken into her house two days earlier, she reported to police, destroying a clock-radio and stealing several of her undergarments.

"I heard him turn a light on, a hallway light," she told the dispatcher as she hid in a closet, armed with a pistol a friend had given her for protection.

"What are you doing?" she can be heard asking over the sound of her bedroom door being kicked in. "Stop it! Please stop it! Just stop it!"

Gunshots can clearly be heard on the recording. She later said Bergner was on top of her in the closet, his hands around her throat, choking her.

"What are you trying to do, kill me?" the mortally wounded Bergner asked.

"Are you trying to kill me?"

Police found her in her front yard when they arrived moments later, and found Bergner, wearing black leather gloves and a brown leather jacket, lying partially in the bedroom closet with three bullet wounds to his abdomen, a 9 mm pistol on the bed nearby.

"That tape is absolutely chilling," said Hammond Police Chief Brian Miller, who worked for years as a detective with the department's sex crimes division.

Miller said he is regularly asked to speak at meetings of women's organizations and support groups for victims of domestic violence, and in the future will be taking the recording along with him as an example of what can happen.

"I didn't want it to turn out like this," the woman told The Times the day after the shooting, though she declined to comment for the record on Wednesday's decision by the prosecutor's office.
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and an amazing video to show all your friends that are on the fence about being a gun owner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkS8mdbml0A
 
Go Oleg, people need to see that crime happens so responsible people need to be armed. If we posted more of these vs. the main stream media which has us all portrayed as cowboys, our message might be picked up. Thank you Oleg, liked the frame of being protected now instead of it being at the donut shop.
 
Was the tape edited to leave out the shots?? Because the loud noises that I heard seemed like the sound of the intruder kicking in the bedroom door. Or were those the shots?... Interpreting audio is more dificult than it seems.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkS8mdbml0A

The 911 operator did her job I suppose, I just don't understand why she didn't ask a few specific questions:

"Do you have ammo for the gun? Did you load it? Do you know how to chamber a round?"

I do know why actually, its that the operator probably knew nothing about firearms.

I think she also should have seen it coming from a mile away and began explaining that "now it may come to a point that you will need to use the weapon that you bought today. Hopefully the police will arrive before it comes to that, but if he enters your room, keep him at a distance. Most importantly don't let him take your gun. If he does make sudden movements towards you and your life is in danger, you may need to use the gun."
 
WOW! For all those boneheads that say guns shouldn't be in a home, or that they need to be unloaded and locked up if in the house, need to listen to that.

Listening to a woman being stalked in her own home was a bit offsetting, but it was a good reminder to go over the drills and prep with my wife another time.

Score more than 1 for the good guys on this one. Way to go lady!
 
Good on her! And nice video, Oleg.

On that note, I pity the B@$**** that ever tries to stock my sister. His visit would be about 5:56 shorter than Bergeners.
 
Way to go. Glad that guy got what he deserved. And being that she got the gun that day, he had no idea she was armed...thought he was so cool going in on such 'easy prey' - glad it had a good outcome that is not only benefited her, but should do so on many others' too.

Great job Oleg...i love the "pick how you want to look like during a violent attack" frame...that's a poster right there. The donut one was pretty funny too, all though a tad mean. Excellent job.

I also didn't really hear the shots - according to the article above it was before berger said "you trying to kill me?" (as if he was surprised at that idea??) All I heard was him busting into the room. And if that door was locked he must have sure been into some evil intentions. Perhaps they were edit out or the mic/tape was overloaded or something. I think that the article above is wrong though...as it says she called after Berger busted a window, which was not the case according to the audio.


Guess Senator Feinstein will have to go and re-consider her belief that since we have the national guard we don't need to protect ourselves anymore (except her) "The National Guard fulfills the militia mentioned in the Second amendment. Citizens no longer need to protect the states or themselves."

And my mother thinks "the second amendment was for back in the day...we are more civilized now and don't need guns." Guess I will have to send this to her.
 
The time between the beginning of that 911 call and the sound of the perp breaking in the door to her bedroom was just under 5 minutes. Another 30+ seconds passed during which this women was forced to battle physically for her life.

After she succeeds in stopping the attack she still had time to put the gun down and leave the house. The response time must have been well in excess of six minutes. If she had not had a weapon she could easily have been killed, the perp had plenty of time to work his evil plan even with police enroute.

No matter how many officers your local force has on duty unless they are parked at the curb in front of your house when the balloon goes up you will
be on your own. This is another classic example of where the police arrive just in time to "draw chalk around the body". Fortunately it was the correct body that got ventilated.
 
The 911 operator did her job I suppose, I just don't understand why she didn't ask a few specific questions:

"Do you have ammo for the gun? Did you load it? Do you know how to chamber a round?"

I do know why actually, its that the operator probably knew nothing about firearms.

I think she also should have seen it coming from a mile away and began explaining that "now it may come to a point that you will need to use the weapon that you bought today. Hopefully the police will arrive before it comes to that, but if he enters your room, keep him at a distance. Most importantly don't let him take your gun. If he does make sudden movements towards you and your life is in danger, you may need to use the gun."
Click to expand...

Your mostly correct with your first guess, most dispatchers know very little about guns. We have all heard of stories of cops mishandling a gun or not knowing how a certain gun operates during a traffic stop....because not all cops are gun guys. They are required to carry them. Dispatchers are not, they, as a general rule, know even LESS about guns. Some of them I know even have a absolute FEAR of guns, we have one that cries if an officer unholsters his weapon (to put it in a lock box, clean it etc).

For the rest of my post I will have to disclose that I AM a 911 dispatcher.

First, I COMPLETELY understand the need for firearms. My personal theory on peoples opinion of "I will just call 911" is this; thats great, but understand cops are normal people just as you. You are just as capable of using a firearm as they are, you just choose not to. The BIG difference is you are already there at the scene, we are several miles and minutes away......you wait for us we are coming as fast as we can......and hoping like hell we make it in time.

That aside....I will not give shooting or gun advice over the phone during a 911 call. I will not tell someone to shoot or not shoot. Im on a phone, I dont know the situation and I wont even attempt to guess using audio alone. Self defense is a very personal decision and thats up to them. Im not going to coach them, it may sound completely callous but the potential law suit would be astronomical.

Again, for the same reason I would not tell someone not to shoot. Ive been in a similar situation and I believe my words where "do what you have to do to protect yourself, just make sure not to point the gun at the cops" or something similar.

There is so much thrust upon a dispatcher that Im not sure any type of gun familiarity or such classes, which would be necessary for some of them to even advise how to load a gun, would be a good idea either. Again, may sound callous but its just not our job to tell you how to use your gun. *I* wouldnt have a problem telling a caller how to disengage a safety or something similar, if I was familiar with the gun......but I dont think its something we need to learn or be familiar with.

Not trying to take anything away from the victim here, but I have heard several beatings over the phone in similar situations - that 5 minute wait is hell on me as well. I have heard my own voice on the tapes saying "its been x minutes where the **** are they?!?" referring to the officers or deputies.

Its not their fault either, you can only drive so fast and be in so many places. We understand that and dont begrudge anyone a permit....we are may-issue in Iowa but everyone that meets the requirements (non felon, no violent acts etc) gets a permit in our county. Our sheriff is very pro-2nd and a life member of the NRA, despite being a Democrat.

I am glad that lady decided to arm herself....proof positive you dont have to have years of experience to use a handgun.....just having it and knowing where the trigger is works just fine if it needs to.
 
I was doing the same thing while listening to the tape. Over 5 minutes before the cops got there, and it really is an eternity. 6 minutes for the mall shooting, and that was considered FAST.
 
"just stop it"

It is distressing to hear her scream in fear like that, but him asking her "are you trying to kill me" and her yelling "just stop it" is perfect.
Clearly shows she was just interested in making him stop.

Its to bad she didn't learn reloading drills and left the room with him and the gun still there.

Yet alls well that ends well. I hope Ryan has learned his lesson.
 
Absolutely chilling to listen to. Just glad the good guys (gals in this case) won this one. Even after my experience in Iraq, I believe that a home invasion would be the scariest thing in the world to go through. A man is supposed to be safe in his home. Can't imagine how I would feel if it were my wife in this situation. Definately something for all of us to think about, and the victim handled the 911 call perfectly. Said all the right things at all the right times. Obviously no lust for blood. Just a person scared to death and willing to defend herself. Bout time we see a good shoot make the headlines.
 
An excerpt from Gun Facts:

Myth: Police are our protection - people don't need guns

Fact: Tell that to 18,209 murder victims, 497,950 robbery victims, and 96,122 rape victims that the police could not help.

Fact: The courts have consistently ruled that the police do not have an obligation to protect individuals. In Warren v. District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department, 444 A.2d 1 (D.C. App. 1981), the court stated: `… courts have without exception concluded that when a municipality or other governmental entity undertakes to furnish police services, it assumes a duty only to the public at large and not to individual members of the community.' Well, except for politicians that receive taxpayer-financed bodyguards.

Fact: There are not enough police to protect everyone. In 1999, there were about 150,000 police officers on duty at any one time.
  • This is on-duty police. This includes desk clerks, command sergeants, etc. – far fewer than 150,000 cops are cruising your neighborhood.
  • There were approximately 271,933,702 people living in the United States.
  • Thus there is only one on-duty cop for every 1,813 citizens!

Fact: Former Florida Attorney General Jim Smith told Florida legislators that police responded to only 200,000 of 700,000 calls for help to Dade County authorities.

Fact: The United States Department of Justice found that, in 1989, there were 168,881 crimes of violence for which police had not responded within 1 hour.

Fact: 95% of the time police arrive too late to prevent a crime or arrest the suspect.

Fact: In over 90% of U.S. cities, technology does not give police dispatchers the location of a cellular telephone caller, making police protection nearly impossible for travelers.

Fact: 75% of protective/restraining orders are violated and police often won't enforce them unless they witness the violation.
 
Quote: Was the tape edited to leave out the shots?? Because the loud noises that I heard seemed like the sound of the intruder kicking in the bedroom door. Or were those the shots?... Interpreting audio is more dificult than it seems.

The microphone on a telephone doesn't pick up all of the frequencies and dynamics involved with the firearms report. I believe the 3 loud noises (like you, I thought they were kicking in the door, but how many closets lock or open to the inside?) were the shots.
 
After the old man shooting the neighbor's burglars outside of Houston, a bunch of my friends seemed outraged that it took the cops 7 minutes to arrive.

This one took over 6 minutes, and thankfully ended without the death of the woman being attacked.

I wonder how many 911 tapes are out there of 5+ minutes where the outcome was much worse. I doubt most people have any idea how long it will take police to respond.
 
Guess Senator Feinstein will have to go and re-consider her belief
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Not a chance. Commoners like you and I matter not to people like her.

Beautiful job on the A/V Oleg.

Every woman should see that. If there's a way to save that file to DVD, I'd send it to 50 woman I know and tell them to pass it on when they're thru with it.
 
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