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I couldn't even tell you who won the Super Bowl in 2015... I don't even recall the two teams that played but the events of the next morning will forever live in my mind.
Nearly two years later and countless court dates - I'm just now able to share our experience. I hope in doing so - it will prepare you and your family for what may come. On February 2, 2015 - our lives were changed forever after an attempted home invasion. Below, is a copy and paste of my victim's statement given at the final sentencing. Some personal information has been redacted...
I'll share more in subsequent post...
Your honor, I am here today so that the full impact of this crime is brought to your attention.
Had Nathan succeeded in his attack - the headline in the Citizen-Times that week would have read, “Local Pastor and Wife Killed in Apparent Home Invasion.” However, this crime cannot be simplified down to just a case of an unsuccessful home invasion stopped by a good guy with a gun. Rather, this was an unprovoked attempt to kidnap, possibly rape, and then murder my wife. The only thing that stopped Nathan from committing these violent acts – was a husband willing to stand between his wife and someone bent on destroying their home.
While the plea agreement may only indicate the final accepted charges – a review of the events from that morning may give you further insight into Nathan’s actions and his true intentions. Had this simply been about stealing a car – then he would have had our car. Having just dropped our son off for his morning bus ride to school, Nathan watched my wife pass by the U-Haul dealership where he was damaging their property. He was captured on their surveillance video watching her drive-by and immediately leaving to follow her to our home. Unaware she was being stalked – she left our vehicle running in the driveway and our front door unlocked.
My wife was first alerted to someone at our house by our puppy barking and the sound of a car door shutting. Supposing it to be an unexpected customer for our storage business – she peers through the blinds of our front door and sees Nathan sitting in our car. She can still recall his demented smile as he made eye contact with his victim and waved at her.
Had he simply been wanting to steal the car – it was his - all he had to do was drive-off and he would have gotten away. Instead, he had other thoughts – very intentional thoughts - he wasn’t sitting in the car in an attempt to steal it – he was a predator, sitting in the car lying in wait for his unsuspecting prey to walk-out her front door - where he could over-power her, kidnap, possibly rape, and ultimately kill her.
I’m thankful that this demon was twisted enough to lay in wait for his prey - had he just came in the front door – he would have found the door unlocked, my wife in the back of the house, our dog in the crate, and me in the bathroom still wrapped in a towel – completely away from our guns, our phones, and no match for a man with a weapon. That day wouldn’t have ended with a criminal behind bars – it would have ended with my wife and I bludgeoned to death in a brutal assault by Nathan Ewing.
Instead, those brief few moments of panic allowed my wife to lock the front door and yell - alerting me to the potential danger. I grabbed my gun from the bedroom but before I could race into the living room, expecting just to see someone driving away with our car – Nathan had already tried to enter the now locked door and had broken through the glass of the front door in an attempt to go after my wife, whom he had wrongly assumed to be alone.
While his family and friends, whom have probably written character references - would tell you how nice and caring Nathan is, how drugs and alcohol had taken him down the wrong road, and how they could never imagine him committing such a violent act like this – that morning he was hell bent on doing only one thing – he was there, determined for whatever the reason - to kill us.
For the next 8 minutes – with my pistol leveled at him – willing to use whatever force was necessary to end the threat against my family – all I could think is, “Why?” Why is he here? Why us? Why won’t he just stop? He was unrelenting, he was bent on destruction, and there was nothing that I seemed to be able to do that could stop him…
When I received my concealed permit my father, a Veteran of Vietnam, asked if I really thought I could kill someone to protect my family. Truth is, it was a question I had hoped to never answer and one I had intended to die an old man having never answered. That morning, peering over the sights of my pistol – pointing a load weapon at another human – I was faced with that same daunting question but this time it demanded an answer.
My first shot was an intentional warning shot – maybe if he knew I was serious, maybe if he knew I really did have a gun, that I would really pull the trigger - that he would stop but NO - he wouldn’t stop. Instead of running from the threat – it only served to enrage him even more. “You shot at me,” he yelled while I told him that I had a gun, was in fear of my life and would be forced to shoot him if he came through my front door. “You might as well get ready to F’n kill me because I’m coming in” he retaliated.
As he reached through the broken glass to unlock the door – he exposed his leg – round two was fired to disable him. If I shot him, if I hit him, if I could just get him to stop – then it would be over. He spins from the doorway, screaming – almost in surprise that I had shot him.
I’ll never forget the sound glass makes as it breaks – I can still close my eyes and hear the sound the sword made as it shattered the glass while Nathan violently breaks out the window adjacent to our front door and finishes breaking out the rest of the glass from the front door. “I’m coming in to F’n kill you all!” Again, all I could think is, “Why won’t you just stop? Why won’t you just leave? Take the car and leave!”
This time he was more careless trying to unlock the door – he didn’t show me his leg - he exposed part of his chest. I quickly fired three additional rounds hitting him in the chest with the first round. The round struck him in an electronic cigarette that deflected the bullet across his chest. I knew I was in a dangerous position – I had already fired 4 rounds out of the pistol and couldn’t continue the fight the way it was going much longer.
I quickly moved, with bare feet over the broken glass towards the front door. I approached the door expecting to unload the pistol at point blank range to kill him – to end the fight - instead, Nathan has moved back to our car. With my pistol pointing at his head – he boldly tells me, “I’m coming back to F’n Kill all of you!” My last shot fired at Nathan in an attempt to kill him - was aimed at center mass through the driver’s window of my car. That round was deflected by the breaking glass of the window - passing through the hat he was wearing in 3 places and within a small fraction of hitting his head.
Out of the 8 rounds fired that day – 4 were meant as a deterrent to stop him – the other 4 were meant to kill him. I tried my best that morning to settle a debt that he now owed with his life but I failed. Instead of justice being instant – we have since lived in the constant fear that he would make good on his promise to return - that he would try to make good on his promise to kill us.... cont'd
Nearly two years later and countless court dates - I'm just now able to share our experience. I hope in doing so - it will prepare you and your family for what may come. On February 2, 2015 - our lives were changed forever after an attempted home invasion. Below, is a copy and paste of my victim's statement given at the final sentencing. Some personal information has been redacted...
I'll share more in subsequent post...
Your honor, I am here today so that the full impact of this crime is brought to your attention.
Had Nathan succeeded in his attack - the headline in the Citizen-Times that week would have read, “Local Pastor and Wife Killed in Apparent Home Invasion.” However, this crime cannot be simplified down to just a case of an unsuccessful home invasion stopped by a good guy with a gun. Rather, this was an unprovoked attempt to kidnap, possibly rape, and then murder my wife. The only thing that stopped Nathan from committing these violent acts – was a husband willing to stand between his wife and someone bent on destroying their home.
While the plea agreement may only indicate the final accepted charges – a review of the events from that morning may give you further insight into Nathan’s actions and his true intentions. Had this simply been about stealing a car – then he would have had our car. Having just dropped our son off for his morning bus ride to school, Nathan watched my wife pass by the U-Haul dealership where he was damaging their property. He was captured on their surveillance video watching her drive-by and immediately leaving to follow her to our home. Unaware she was being stalked – she left our vehicle running in the driveway and our front door unlocked.
My wife was first alerted to someone at our house by our puppy barking and the sound of a car door shutting. Supposing it to be an unexpected customer for our storage business – she peers through the blinds of our front door and sees Nathan sitting in our car. She can still recall his demented smile as he made eye contact with his victim and waved at her.
Had he simply been wanting to steal the car – it was his - all he had to do was drive-off and he would have gotten away. Instead, he had other thoughts – very intentional thoughts - he wasn’t sitting in the car in an attempt to steal it – he was a predator, sitting in the car lying in wait for his unsuspecting prey to walk-out her front door - where he could over-power her, kidnap, possibly rape, and ultimately kill her.
I’m thankful that this demon was twisted enough to lay in wait for his prey - had he just came in the front door – he would have found the door unlocked, my wife in the back of the house, our dog in the crate, and me in the bathroom still wrapped in a towel – completely away from our guns, our phones, and no match for a man with a weapon. That day wouldn’t have ended with a criminal behind bars – it would have ended with my wife and I bludgeoned to death in a brutal assault by Nathan Ewing.
Instead, those brief few moments of panic allowed my wife to lock the front door and yell - alerting me to the potential danger. I grabbed my gun from the bedroom but before I could race into the living room, expecting just to see someone driving away with our car – Nathan had already tried to enter the now locked door and had broken through the glass of the front door in an attempt to go after my wife, whom he had wrongly assumed to be alone.
While his family and friends, whom have probably written character references - would tell you how nice and caring Nathan is, how drugs and alcohol had taken him down the wrong road, and how they could never imagine him committing such a violent act like this – that morning he was hell bent on doing only one thing – he was there, determined for whatever the reason - to kill us.
For the next 8 minutes – with my pistol leveled at him – willing to use whatever force was necessary to end the threat against my family – all I could think is, “Why?” Why is he here? Why us? Why won’t he just stop? He was unrelenting, he was bent on destruction, and there was nothing that I seemed to be able to do that could stop him…
When I received my concealed permit my father, a Veteran of Vietnam, asked if I really thought I could kill someone to protect my family. Truth is, it was a question I had hoped to never answer and one I had intended to die an old man having never answered. That morning, peering over the sights of my pistol – pointing a load weapon at another human – I was faced with that same daunting question but this time it demanded an answer.
My first shot was an intentional warning shot – maybe if he knew I was serious, maybe if he knew I really did have a gun, that I would really pull the trigger - that he would stop but NO - he wouldn’t stop. Instead of running from the threat – it only served to enrage him even more. “You shot at me,” he yelled while I told him that I had a gun, was in fear of my life and would be forced to shoot him if he came through my front door. “You might as well get ready to F’n kill me because I’m coming in” he retaliated.
As he reached through the broken glass to unlock the door – he exposed his leg – round two was fired to disable him. If I shot him, if I hit him, if I could just get him to stop – then it would be over. He spins from the doorway, screaming – almost in surprise that I had shot him.
I’ll never forget the sound glass makes as it breaks – I can still close my eyes and hear the sound the sword made as it shattered the glass while Nathan violently breaks out the window adjacent to our front door and finishes breaking out the rest of the glass from the front door. “I’m coming in to F’n kill you all!” Again, all I could think is, “Why won’t you just stop? Why won’t you just leave? Take the car and leave!”
This time he was more careless trying to unlock the door – he didn’t show me his leg - he exposed part of his chest. I quickly fired three additional rounds hitting him in the chest with the first round. The round struck him in an electronic cigarette that deflected the bullet across his chest. I knew I was in a dangerous position – I had already fired 4 rounds out of the pistol and couldn’t continue the fight the way it was going much longer.
I quickly moved, with bare feet over the broken glass towards the front door. I approached the door expecting to unload the pistol at point blank range to kill him – to end the fight - instead, Nathan has moved back to our car. With my pistol pointing at his head – he boldly tells me, “I’m coming back to F’n Kill all of you!” My last shot fired at Nathan in an attempt to kill him - was aimed at center mass through the driver’s window of my car. That round was deflected by the breaking glass of the window - passing through the hat he was wearing in 3 places and within a small fraction of hitting his head.
Out of the 8 rounds fired that day – 4 were meant as a deterrent to stop him – the other 4 were meant to kill him. I tried my best that morning to settle a debt that he now owed with his life but I failed. Instead of justice being instant – we have since lived in the constant fear that he would make good on his promise to return - that he would try to make good on his promise to kill us.... cont'd
