As reported, 37 year old Charles Goff III broke into a man’s house in Gilbert, Arizona, after becoming angry that the man was dating his ex-wife. Goff, who had a history of violent behavior, and whose ex-wife had requested an order of protection, held the victim at gunpoint for about four hours. During this time, Goff sent text messages to his ex-wife, attempting to lure her to the victim’s home. The victim was eventually able to get his self defense gun, and fatally shot Goff, but not before Goff was able to open fire too. The victim was treated for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the leg, and then released from a local hospital.
Fortunately, we’ll never know for sure what Goff planned to do to his ex wife and her boyfriend, but I think we can say with certainty that it wasn’t going to be pleasant. Given Goff’s violent past, and willingness to try and kill the boyfriend after invading his home, I wouldn’t be surprise if this would have ended as a double murder and suicide, or at least a double murder. Thankfully, the victim here was armed, and as a result, only the violent criminal lost his life. Goff’s ex wife and her boyfriend lived to see another day, and will never again have to fear attack by that violent abuser.
I would also like to note that this shows violent offenders like Goff are just as willing to break the laws that prohibit them from having a gun, as they are to break the laws against home invasion, kidnapping, and domestic violence. More to the point, even when domestic offenders don’t have a gun, they are often able to physically overpower their victims, and then slash, beat, burn, behead, or otherwise harm/kill their victims. Gun control laws help offenders by ensuring that their victims are defenseless, while simultaneously failing to disarm those offenders.