Two residents of an apartment complex in Memphis, TN, nearly died when car thieves fired on them, sending bullets within inches of them. So, they shot back in self-defense, attempting to protect their lives, property, and families from the armed thieves. Now they’re being evicted by the apartment complex in which they lived.
The shooting happened in the wee hours of the morning on May 22nd, when one of the men involved, Terrance Montgomery, got a call from his neighbor, Cedric Verner. Verner said that he saw, on a surveillance camera feed, that someone was attempting to steal his girlfriend’s car.
He then quickly slipped into some flip-flops, grabbed a gun for self-defense purposes, and ran outside to see what was going on. As he did so, the thieves started firing into Venner’s apartment. Venner said that the bullets “almost kill[ed] my kids by inches while they were lying in bed asleep.” So, both Verner and Montgomery returned fire, shooting a few rounds at the alleged thieves. As Verner and his family were fired upon first, shooting back was legal in Tennessee.
Regardless of the legality of their attempts to defend themselves, Verner and Montgomery both received letters from the apartment complex saying that they had three days to vacate their apartments.
Calling attention to the crazy move the apartment complex made was Heritage fellow Amy Swearer, who gave a brief run-down of the story and called out the apartment complex for booting the residents after they had to fire back on their attackers in self-defense.
“Two residents of a Memphis apartment complex lawfully shot back at armed car thieves,” Swearer said, summing up what happened during the grand theft auto-turned-shooting while emphasizing that what the two residents did was legal. Continuing, she then called out the apartment complex for giving the two residents the boot for defending their property, saying, “The management complex told them they weren’t allowed to defend themselves or their property, and immediately served them with 3-day eviction notices.”
Swearer then went further, describing the background to the two men firing back to emphasize the injustice of the apartment complex’s decision, saying, “The one resident only returned fire after the thieves’ rounds entered his apartment, narrowly missing his sleeping children. The other resident’s car had already been stolen once. But the management company deemed THEM a nuisance and a danger.”
Commenting on Swearer’s post, one person characterized the situation as unsurprising given the sort of people involved in many property management companies and the plethora of rules the petty tyrants like to enforce, saying, “It sucks, but it’s expected. Most property management companies are run by petty tyrants to poor to get into politics where they can make everyone’s life hell.”
Another commenter on Swearer’s post argued that what the apartment complex allegedly did was illegal under Tennessee eviction law, saying that 30 days is the minimum. So just three is on its face, according to the commenter, very illegal, regardless of the enforceability of demanding residents not defend themselves. “Tennessee, by law, is required to give them 30 days at least. The 3 days is literally a notice that eviction proceedings will start in 3 days, or they can voluntarily vacate the property,” that commenter said. However, that claim is untrue, as Tennessee law also provides that landlords need only give you three days to move out if you do something dangerous or threatening. As the apartment complex here gave them three days, it is arguing that their returning fire was dangerous or threatening.
Another commenter, this one likely more correct, argued that the apartment complex would attract robbers like moths to a flame now that residents have been told they can’t defend themselves, saying, “This apartment just became a Mecca to armed thieves. Come on down, no one is allowed to defend themselves. Fish in a barrel.”
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