Stabbing Wednesday Night In Pottstown Was Self-Defense
POTTSTOWN, PA — Police determined a stabbing on Wednesday night in the 100 block of N. Charlotte Street in Pottstown was done in self-defense.
Johon Ford, 38, of Norristown, was found on N. Charlotte St. with a minor stab wound in his chest around 8:40 p.m., Pottstown Police Department Chief Michael Markovich reported. Ford was found near the Tri-County YWCA office on King Street and was taken to Reading Hospital and was released.
A police investigation determined another man had stabbed Ford, but in self-defense, Markovich confirmed.
Neither of the men wanted to be interviewed or discuss the incident further, Markovich said.
Prosecutor rules man acted in self-defense when he shot neighbor who broke into his home
A 37-year-old Yakima man won’t be charged after shooting a neighbor who broke into his mobile home.
Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Joe Brusic said Friday the man was defending his fiancée and their six children in June when he shot Jose Mendoza-Martinez multiple times in the chest.
“If (the man) reasonably believed that he and/or those with him were in imminent danger or a threat of great personal injury, he could use lethal force, which he did,” Brusic wrote Friday. “I find that the force used was both reasonable and necessary under the law.”
Brusic noted that Washington law allows people to “stand their ground” and defend themselves when they are in a place lawfully, such as their own home.
Mendoza-Martinez, 38, was shot multiple times in the chest after he was found inside a bedroom of a mobile home at the Almost Sunshine RV Park, 218 E. N St. on June 24.
When the family came home around 7:45 p.m., one of the daughters found Mendoza-Martinez lying in her bed and told her mother, according to Brusic’s summary of police reports. As the mother got her children out and called 911, the man got a Glock pistol and went into the bedroom, pointed the gun at Mendoza-Martinez and told him not to leave the room, Brusic’s letter said.
Mendoza-Martinez had removed a fan to get into the bedroom window, and Brusic said police found a glass pipe, lighter, cigarette butt, a small piece of foil and a plastic bag.
The woman and her children heard yelling in the house, with the man telling Mendoza-Martinez “This is not your house,” Brusic’s letter said. Mendoza-Martinez lunged at the man, who fired five shots, killing Mendoza-Martinez, according to Brusic’s letter.
The man then left the home, put his gun on the tire of his truck and waited for police with his hands up. Brusic said the man had a valid concealed pistol license.
Mendoza was a neighbor, police said. An autopsy ruled Mendoza’s death a homicide, the seventh in the city this year, and the 15th in the county.
