ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Butts County Sheriff Gary Long says a man was shot at by a Jackson father after breaking into his children’s bedroom.
“I mean, very disturbing,” said Shelley Cook, who lives across the street on Thornberry Trail. “You’re talking about the youngest girl, today is her birthday. She’s ten. The boys are a little older but still, they’re children. They were put in harm’s way. They don’t even feel safe in their own home.”
“He broke out the window, started crawling through the window, and that’s when the father… the kids ran out and got the father,” said Long. “The father challenged him, he didn’t have a gun at the time, and the suspect jumped out of the window.”
The father, a military veteran, then got his handgun.
“That’s when the suspect had busted the window on the front of the house, and he was actually about three quarters of the way into the house, making threats that he was going to kill him,” said Long.
That’s when the father pulled the trigger and the man, identified as Abdil Aquil, fell out the window.
“The father of that home, the husband of that home, is the hero. Without the actions that he took, I really believe, 28 years of doing this job, we would’ve had a homicide,” said Long.
Aquil wasn’t hit, and Long says it took three deputies and a Taser to get him in custody.
“They got here really quick, which is a good thing,” said Cook.
Aquil is charged with burglary, home invasion, terroristic threats, three counts of cruelty to children in the 1st degree, criminal damage to property in the 2nd degree, and obstruction of law enforcement.
“There was a similar instance where he tried to bust through the back door of a house, there was a resident inside of the house,” said Long.
Aquil only received probation that time.
“Sad, because it sounds like he needed some help that he didn’t get,” said Cook.
Long is now holding monthly gun safety classes for Butts County residents.
“An armed community is a safe community, and if you are legally allowed to possess a firearm, you should possess one, if nothing more than in the defense of your home and family,” said Long.
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