On the evening of October 15, 2023, at 8:44 p.m., a distress call was made by a 618 East Jackson Street resident in Kokomo, reporting that he had defended himself against an intruder by shooting him.
According to the homeowner, he was roused from sleep by the presence of the individual in his living room. In trying to persuade the intruder to leave, he was assaulted. In defense and to end the ongoing physical confrontation, the homeowner fired his weapon and shot at the male in order to end the physical attack, police said.
Upon arriving at the scene, law enforcement discovered a man with gunshot injuries near the home’s front entrance. Officers provided immediate assistance until medical professionals arrived.
The intruder, later identified as 51-year-old Scott Elliot Jones of Kokomo, succumbed to his injuries. Meanwhile, the homeowner received treatment for minor injuries sustained during the altercation.
No formal charges have yet to be filed in the case, which is still the subject of an ongoing investigation. The homeowner has not been charged at this time.
The Howard County Coroner’s Office has scheduled an autopsy and will contribute its findings to the investigating parties. Following the investigation, the Howard County Prosecutor’s Office will handle the shooting incident, and a full review of the shooting will be released at a later date.
Quantifying Defensive Gun Uses (DGUs) remains a challenge. Most law enforcement agencies don’t specifically categorize DGUs. While the FBI keeps records of justifiable homicides, states aren’t mandated to contribute to this data, leading to gaps in information. Moreover, the FBI’s data doesn’t account for defensive actions where an individual repels an attacker without lethal force or simply shows their weapon.
This lack of clarity fuels a heated debate between those studying gun violence and gun rights proponents, as they often refer to divergent sources. Academics typically reference the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), a bi-annual government-led poll of crime victims. Conversely, gun rights supporters often refer to telephone surveys from the early 1990s by criminologist and gun control critic Gary Kleck.
