News from January 5, 2006 issue



Yancy fires back at intruders
Larry Yancy was shot in the leg when he surprised two masked intruders in his home early Saturday morning. The Fredonia homeowner, armed with a .357 handgun returned fire, causing the burglars to flee. It's unclear if any of Yancy's shots hit his assailants.

The two masked men remain at large and Kentucky State Police continue to investigate.

The Yancys live at the end of dead-end Christopher Road in a small subdivision off of U.S. 641 on the northern edge of Fredonia. Mrs. Yancy was not at home.

Yancy was shot once in his left calf while confronting one of the burglars in his garage. He awoke to noises coming from the garage located just below his bedroom, loaded his pistol and went down two flights of stairs toward the garage.

"I figure they heard me, because floors creek, and that's what scared me ­ it didn't scare them off," said Yancy, 57.

When he got midway down the second set of stairs, he stopped and looked over the banister in the direction of the garage. From there, he could see the light was on. About that time, a bullet came in his direction, missing him by inches and lodging in the wall.

He got to the bottom of the stairs and walked across his family room where he was fired at again, both times from a masked man armed with a .22-caliber rifle and standing in the doorway between the family room and garage.

The homeowner cocked his .357 and the man in the garage slammed the door leading to the family room, Yancy recalls, still visibly shaken Monday as he discussed the chain of events.

With his gun cocked, Yancy walked toward the garage and stood beside the door as a third shot pierced the wooden door.

"I opened the door and stepped out into the garage and took about two steps, and that's when he shot me in the leg.

"My leg went out from under me and I fired one shot at him and they took off running."
He stepped out into the darkness and into his driveway where he fired five more shots in the direction of the two men as they fled on foot southward toward Ky. 902.

Yancy felt blood running into his houseshoe and went to a neighbor's house for help. He was taken to Caldwell County Hospital where he was treated and released.
The gun used in the burglary was a small-caliber rifle Yancy had lying on top of his gun safe in the garage. He had shot it earlier in the day Friday, and left it lying on top of the safe ­ a move he calls a terrible mistake.

Having a gun upstairs in his bedroom turned out to be critical in the defense of his home.

"We have five grandchildren and since they were born I've never kept a gun up here, but a week before Christmas I brought that one to the bedroom."

While he only saw one person in the garage ­ the one who shot at him ­ Yancy heard two people talking while he was making his way downstairs and saw both of them running away from his house. One of the men dropped the .22 rifle in the Yancy's yard as he ran. Nothing was stolen from the residence.

The men gained entrance to the garage through a locked door leading from the driveway. It's the only exterior door that didn't have a dead bolt lock ­ but Yancy says it soon will. He encourages people to use dead bolt locks, to be aware of their surround-ings and to use their judgement as to whether to keep a gun in the house.
In hindsight, he said he wouldn't do anything differently though he did have second thoughts about shooting someone.

"I wasn't going to stay up here, this is my house not theirs," he said.

State Police are investigating the incident and ask that anyone with information to please call toll-free 1-800-222-5555. Callers may remain anonymous.

Don Perry retires from PD
Police Lt. Don Perry turned in his badge Sunday.

The 29-year veteran of the Marion Police Department has retired.

Perry, 54, will remain employed part-time at Gilbert Funeral Home as a licensed funeral director.

Marion Police Chief Kenneth Winn said he will miss Perry whom he called his right-hand man.

"The one thing you could never accuse Don of is being afraid of work," Winn said. "He'll be missed."

Perry was hired in 1976 as a Marion Police officer and was the first in the department to graduate from the police academy.

Memorable events from his 29 years on the force include the difficult investigation of four homicides in Crittenden County and the discovery of misconduct by a deputy jailer whereby inmates were allowed out of jail and women in the jail in a scandal that attracted national attention.

On a lighter note, Perry said he was proud to see the police department move into its new headquarters at Marion Commons.

"It was something I heard about for 29 1/2 years and I finally did see it," Perry said.

Winn said the Marion Police Department hired an extra patrolman when officer Marty Hodge was deployed to Iraq with the Kentucky National Guard's transportation unit out of Paducah. Hodge is due to return within the next few weeks; therefore, the department will not fill Perry's vacancy.