Homeowner Who Killed Intruder: ‘I Shot Him with His Own Gun’

An Indianapolis, Indiana, homeowner who shot and killed an intruder on Tuesday said, “I shot him with his own gun.”

WRTV reported that the homeowner, Brent Smith, had just gotten home from the grocery store when he saw a 22-year-old man pull a ski mask down over his face.

The 22-year-old, identified as Damon Swanigan Jr., then allegedly attacked Smith so quickly that he could only scream for help at first.

Smith said, “He hit me in the head with his gun. I yelled out, ‘He is robbing me,’ thinking my neighbors would hear me.”

He then wrestled with Swanigan for control of the gun, and Swanigan was shot during the struggle. Swanigan fled, and Smith was able to retrieve his own gun, after which he exchanged gunfire with other suspects who were outside.

FOX 59 quoted Smith saying, “When the gun went off, I heard thousands of gunshots. It was a lot of gunfire, man, a lot of gunfire.”

Swanigan died on Smith’s front step.

Reflecting on Swanigan’s death, Smith said, “That doesn’t make no sense man. I didn’t want to do that. I don’t know his intention, but I didn’t want to be shot. That’s just all there is to it.”

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AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.