NC Magistrate Shoots out Fleeing Burglar’s Tires

By Jenn Jacques

| WBTV CharlotteThis sounds like something that would have happened on the streets of the Dukes of Hazards! Also, the word “magistrate” has me singing Kenny Loggins.

Rankin Avenue in Lowell is as calm as streets come. So it’s no surprise that Jeffrey Funderburk did a double-take when he noticed a stranger outside his neighbor’s house.

“I was looking out the window and saw a red vehicle pull down this street and pull into the driveway,” Funderburk, a Gaston County Magistrate, said. He thought it could be nothing, until the man’s actions told him otherwise.

“He began to hit the door with his shoulder and his hip, and at that time is when I gathered all of my stuff and came over here myself,” Funderburk said.

Funderburk’s mindset quickly shifted to what he knows best. He once worked for Gaston County Police, Lowell Police and the North Carolina Highway Patrol as a law enforcement officer.

“I drew my weapon and aimed it at him,” he said.

Eventually, Funderburk said the suspect, later identified as 25-year-old Casey Philbeck, got in his car and tried to drive away. That’s when Funderburk says he fired twice at Philbeck’s back tires.

“The training kind of clicks, it’s …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms