Friday, August 20, 1999
Mugger shot by intended victim
Park walker, 57, was carrying gun
BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Jamie Kennedy
|
COVINGTON — A man police say was trying to rob another man ended up in the hospital Thursday because his chosen victim, a man out for his morning walk, packed a .25-caliber automatic in his exercise pants and used it.
Under a 3-year-old Kentucky law, a person with a permit to carry a concealed gun may defend himself with it when accosted on the street.
The man wounded in Thursday morning's shooting, Jamie Kennedy, had tried this kind of thing before, police said. The 28-year-old convicted felon escaped indictment in June after he was accused of poking a gun in a man's face and stealing his wallet. The gun, however, was a toy. Prosecutors could not get enough grand jurors to vote for an indictment.
Thursday morning, Mr. Kennedy's luck ran out, police said.
Using a real gun this time, although investigators later determined it had no bullets in it, he stopped Joseph Megerle as Mr. Megerle did his regular exercising near Devou Park just before 7 a.m. When threatened, Mr. Megerle, 57, pulled out his gun and fired twice. He hit Mr. Kennedy in the chest and head, then ran to a nearby construction site to find someone to call police.
“That's exactly what this (concealed carry) law was designed to do,” said Craig Palmer, director of the Kentucky Coalition to Carry Concealed. “This is an honest, law-abiding person who didn't set out to hurt anybody. You don't have to be a victim.”
Mr. Kennedy was in serious condition later at University Hospital. Cincinnati police officers, with warrants for his arrest on charges of attempted robbery and attempted murder, will be waiting for him when he is released, Covington Assistant Chief Bill Dorsey said.
Mr. Megerle will not be charged.
He told officers that when he saw the other man's gun, he thought he was going to die, Lt. Col. Dorsey said.
Mr. Kennedy has an extensive criminal record in Kenton County. He was sentenced to a year in jail in 1988 for burglary and 10 days in jail in 1995 for receiving stolen property. He was sent to prison for two years in May 1997 on another conviction for receiving stolen property. In exchange for his guilty plea then, a charge of being a persistent felony offender was dropped. Court records did not say when he was released from prison.
Mr. Kennedy is a suspect in a robbery Thursday morning at a Newport Dairy Mart.
Covington investigators think he and two others in a car were trying to avoid main thoroughfares to escape detection by police. Lt. Col. Dorsey said they were dumping clothing in a trash can when Mr. Megerle happened by on his walk. Covington detectives kept the clothing and both guns for evidence.
“I don't know that this course of action is right for everybody,” Lt. Col. Dorsey said of the shooting. “Mr. Megerle did what he felt was right for him.”
The event likely will prompt more people to be interested in getting concealed-carry permits, he said. Thirty other states have laws that allow citizens to carry guns.
Concealed weapon permit requires test
Internet's racial divide narrowing
Microsoft vows to fix e-mail bug today
Driver in worst DUI set to be released
Mugger shot by intended victim
New DUI law would assume guilt for refusing breath exam
Price Hill mourns loss of 'neighbors'
Life's a beach, Buffett rules
Local colleges among top rated
Miami freshman class hits record
UC hears from excavators in Turkey: We're fine
Boaters cautious in wake of deaths
Couple seeks sponsors to cover wedding cost
Livestock collide with development
Blind rafters enjoy Little Miami adventure
6 file for school board spots
Middletown will elect new leaders
No candidates for 9 posts in Warren
Seven running for Mason council
Family reflects on blessings after crash
GET TO IT
Homework is for parents, too
What parents say about getting involved
Park benches with pizazz
Other Artworks programs
Storyteller performances open Taft exhibit season
County finally hears voters
Food banks Y2K-ready
How to help earthquake victims
Hundreds on ballot in Hamilton County
Judge sets strict rules in porn trial
Man dies from apparent electrocution
Marilyn Sheppard's body to be exhumed
N.Ky. leaders boost workers' training center
New roof shields fairgoers
New system speeds fingerprint IDs in Ohio
Shooting death stuns family
Teachers union sues schools
TRISTATE DIGEST
Truck driver in fatal crash likely to post bond
Woodlawn rights case referred
