August 30, 2017
By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –
An Elk City homeowner leveled his shotgun on two burglars and held them until police arrived, apologizing to them saying he didn’t want to shoot.
The two men, 22-year-old Cody West Givens from Elk City and the other, 34-year-old Jeremiah Rex Dennis Schneberger from Edmond, have bonded out of the Beckham County Detention Center on $30-thousand dollar bonds, each and are awaiting court dates.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the homeowners were in bed in their home in the 300 block of Hoover Circle in Elk City in the early morning hours of August 19 when the woman heard noises and called police. The man grabbed his shotgun and confronted the pair who had broken into the front door of his home. They were allegedly found in front of the residence at the time the homeowner confronted them.
When police arrived, they found Schneberger laying on the ground close to the front door and Givens standing next to a black Dodge Ram Pickup – thought to be the vehicle the men had been driving. The homeowner was observed holding a shotgun, waiving it visible over his head when police arrived. He was instructed to lay his weapon down on the ground away from him.
The court document says the stories the two men gave police didn’t add up.
At one point, Givens told police that it was Schneberger who broke the front door open with his foot. Police found a large, muddy boot imprint in the door, but when they checked Schneberger, he was wearing flip-flops. It was givens found wearing boots.
No motive has been determined why the two picked the home on Hoover Circle.
Schneberger, according to the court document, was visibly intoxicated and had slurred speech, however, Givens appeared to be alert. He told police that Schneberger had called him from a local bar about 2:45 am and wanted Givens to take him home. Police never received an answer as to how they got to the home where the burglary incident took place over an hour after Givens had received the phone call.
Officers found that the back door to the home had a lock that had been manipulated with an unknown object and the window next to the door had its screen missing, leaning against the residence below the window.
The front door was broken, the striker of the deadbolt was missing and the door frame was cracked.
A neighbor who claimed she witnessed the incident said she noticed the pickup parked in front of her neighbors home and that it was there between 20 and 45 minutes before police arrived.
Both men are due in Beckham County District Court for a preliminary hearing conference on October 30.
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