Target practice pays off

[Valigator]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/loc...home-headlines
Hollywood teen shoots intruder after father says on phone, `Do what you have to do'




By Marlene Naanes
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

May 25, 2006



Hollywood · Javaris Granger wished his father was there instead of him.

His father was on the phone, urging Granger, 15, to get the gun they used for shooting practice. "Do what you have to do," his father said.

Granger did. He aimed the gun and fired at the violent intruder.

Family and friends are awed by Granger's bravery. "Anyone who takes charge like that is definitely a hero," said Maxine Chandler, his mother.

Before the McArthur High School freshman fired the gun, he kept a cool head and remembered his father's shooting and safety lessons during the chaos early Saturday morning.

His father, Lyndon Chandler, had left the house to visit a friend at the hospital. His wife heard a knock at the door and, thinking it was her husband, opened it. A stranger grabbed at her; she pulled free and slammed the door.

It was 3:30 a.m.

Granger woke with a start, hearing his mother's frantic voice and something slamming against the front window.

He ran out to the dark living room and saw his mother screaming as a man, cursing and muttering, threw a bicycle at the window.

Granger yelled at the intruder to leave, while his mother called his father on the phone and handed it to her son. The stranger began turning the doorknob, intent on getting in the home.

Within seconds, Granger ran into his parents' bedroom, found the safety box, unlocked it and loaded two guns for him and his mother. He ran back to the living room as the intruder threw a bicycle at the door and started kicking it in.

His mother was too shaken to take a gun, so she ran to another bedroom where her daughters and visiting family members were hiding.

"I was real scared and nervous, but I knew I had to stay focused on what I had to do because my mom and the kids were there," Granger said.

The next moment the man kicked down the door and jumped into the living room, yards from Granger.

"I didn't want to hurt anybody, so I fired off a warning shot," the ninth-grader said.

The intruder didn't leave until four shots later.

Since the incident, friends and family members have called to congratulate the modest teenager who didn't tell his story until news reports made it hard to hide. His three sisters call him brave, his dad is very proud of "the man of the house" and his mom says her family would have died if the man police later identified as Keil Jumper had laid hands on them.

Jumper, 22, is in Memorial Regional Medical Center with two gunshot wounds. He has a string of arrests dating to 2001, including one for attacking a Seminole Reservation Police Officer the day before he allegedly broke into Granger's home.

Granger does not face charges. The second oldest child in the family, he often goes to the range at Markham Park to practice shoot with his father. He was never a victim of crime before, but calmly went through all the gun safety steps his father taught him, even after one gun jammed after the first shot Saturday.

He even locked up the guns after Jumper left, before he checked on his mother. "My husband tried to get everyone to learn the safety of a gun," Chandler said. "It paid off."

[fabsroman]

Good story. You rarely see the news report stuff like this.

[Tater]

I don't think I've EVER seen a news story like that.

[Aim to maim]

There are a couple of strange aspects to that story.

1. The father goes to visit a sick friend in the hospital and still has not returned home at 3:30 AM.

2. Faced with a dangerous and violent intruder, the mother uses her cell phone, not to dial 911, but her husband instead.

There may well be reasonable explanations for both. I'm just glad that it turned out well for the family.

I note the perpetrator survived. Any guesses as to how long it will take him to file a lawsuit against his intended victims?

[TreeDoc]

I would LOVE to see that on the front page of the Washington Post, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle and all the other liberal fish wraps!

That would have NEVER happened in "Hollywood" California, instead we would be reading about the deaths of a family and how terrible of a childhood the killer must have had.

I too would be interested to know the "inside" story like Aim to maim points out.

[donnie]

oklahoma has the best cure for lawsuits over this.
exemption from civil liablity when deadly force is used according to the self defense act. i think we just passed the same castle law as florida. "try to carjack me and i get to shoot" legal like.

[Valigator]

You better believe it, we were getting gas last night at a Hess station about 11 pm, what a bunch of unsavory characters hanging out in the parking lot...I had my eye on my guy who was pumping the gas and my gun in my lap .....God I hate this town...

[gspsonny03]

Val, you may have to head West. Less people more space. Now of course, we don't have any "gators" to hunt, but I'm sure you could find something to take up your time. I have a feeling that your problem may turn up out here in the very near future, but for right now you can get yourself back up in the mountains and not see anyone for weeks on end, if you can afford the gas to get there. And even that's cheaper here than it is there. Let me know when you're moving, I'll watch for yah.

[Valigator]

Wouldnt that be fun, we could sit on our porch'es and watch our pointers play.....and dare someone we dont like to set foot on the property and a big ole sign on the front gate saying "WARNING WE DON'T DIAL 911" heeehawwww

[gspsonny03]

Val;
There is nothing like finishing a hunt sitting back with a beverage of some sort, relaxing to the solitude, watching the sun go down, with your favorite hunting dog nestled at your feet and thanking the Lord above for giving you this day. I just don't understand people who have never experienced it. There is just nothing like it. Take care.

[Tall Shadow]

Originally posted by gspsonny03
Val;
There is nothing like finishing a hunt sitting back with a beverage of some sort, relaxing to the solitude, watching the sun go down, with your favorite hunting dog nestled at your feet and thanking the Lord above for giving you this day. I just don't understand people who have never experienced it. There is just nothing like it. Take care.

Most of "Us" can only dream about being able to have the true pleasure you're discribing....

I'd be "Out west" right now! if I could find suitable work...I've been looking for some time now, as My job of 20+ years might just be "Gone" by mid august.....With not many paying prospects here in Michigan.

I hope that one day, I can afford to have someplace just like you've discribed........Sigh!

Untill then, take a good sip of the brew of choice, pat the dog on the head, and enjoy the sunset for me!

Maybe, someday, We'll be neighbors and can go hunting together.....Till then......

Take Care!
Tall Shadow

[gspsonny03]

Tall Shadow:
I wasn't meaning that I had any thing special on anyone, out here in the west. All I meant was that when an individual has a place to hunt and he enjoys it as much as most of the people on this site does, that at the end of a day when he is sitting back relaxing and reflecting on the end of a great hunt, that there is nothing greater this side of heaven than being able to enjoy it with friends and family and in this case Val and I happen to include our dogs as family. But thanks for your kind words and if you ever get out this way look me up and maybe we can do a hunt together. I heard that our fair city was putting on a job fair and that they were trying to pull a lot of people out of the Detroit area. Anyway luck to you and take care of your self.

[skeet]

Well, y'all...I did move out here to Wyoming... I'm a way from GSP but not so far it is out of the question to join him on a hunt sometime. The bad thing about livin out here is no work..or lower pay for the work you do. But there are things that make up for the lower pay. Solitude is one as well as a different outlook on life by the people here. I'm not too far from Cody...and they have some people moving in from California and other liberal areas...but those people don't seem to stick. They want to change the area and the local people resist with a passion. This area takes some gettin used to but if you want to go with the flow it works out to be pretty easy. Had a farm back east and I have one here so I haven't really changed. Got plenty of pheasants here as well as a few chuckers...plenty deer some Antelope and a chance to do a little elk hunting, Moose if you can draw I guess and of course there are waterfowl. . I guess if you want to live in an area such as this you have to adapt to what goes on around you and to live within your means. I'm doing it and I know y'all can if you really try. It ain't paradise...but close 'nuff for gummit work Now I have to get in touch with Rocky to get into some P dogs soon. Ahhh...so little time for work(which is, of course, a four letter word)!

[Valigator]

Skeet that post was just poetry, I can almost visualize it as I read, have fun and enjoy...oh wait your doin that already....good for you!!!!

[BILLY D.]

SKEET

THINGS MUST BE GOOD, VAL DIDN'T CALL YA SWEET THIS TIME.

YOUR RIGHT ABOUT LIVING IN GOD'S COUNTRY, MONTANA, WYOMING AND THE DAKOTAS. YA DON'T HAVE TO MAKE $10000 A MONTH TO SUBSIST. THE PAY ISN'T AS HIGH HERE BUT IT'S ALSO CHEAPER TO LIVE. EXCEPT FOR **&^ ((*%# ((*&^ GASOLINE.

INSURANCES, HEALTH, CAR, HOME AND LIFE ARE CHEAPER ALSO. THE CITIES ARE MUCH SAFER BUT THERE ARE A FEW NER DO WELLS.

I WOULDN'T THINK OF MOVING SOMEWHERE ELSE.

LIVING WHERE YOU LIVE I'M SURE IT'S A LOT BETTER LOOKING AT THE BEARTOOTHS THAN IT WOULD BE TO LOOK AT I 95.