A former U.S. Army infantry team leader and military contractor died as he struggled with a Goldsboro (NC) homeowner for control of the gun that he pulled during a home invasion early Saturday morning.

A home invasion suspect was shot and killed after deputies said he broke into a home Saturday morning.

Deputies with the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office identified the suspect as 32-year-old Jeremy Batson.

At approximately 4:15 am, Wayne County Sheriff’s Office Deputies responded to the 200 block of Little River Drive for reports of a home invasion and shooting.

Deputies say when they responded to the incident, Batson was found lying near the door with a  gunshot wound. H was airlifted to Vidant Medical Center where he later died.

Investigators say the homeowner and his family were asleep when their alarm went off. The homeowner went to check on the alarm, but returned to bed when he did not see anything wrong. When the alarm was activated a second time, he went to check again and saw the suspect, who pull a gun on the homeowner.

The homeowner got into a struggle with Batson while defending himself. Deputies say during the struggle, the gun went off, striking Batson.

Investigators do not expected to be filed against the homeowner.

Batson’s Facebook page identifies him as a former Infantry team leader who served in Afghanistan. The most recent picture on his page suggests that he served with the 1st Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment.  WNCN confirmed his military service. His wife confirmed that Batson was a private military contractor in a Facebook post that both lamented his loss and noted his organs were donated, including a a donation to a fellow veteran at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

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This Goldsboro homeowner appears to be a very lucky man. (Former) Sgt. Batson was an experienced infantry team leader with at least one combat deployment and a considerable amount of military training before becoming a private military contractor. Put bluntly, he was a man who lived and died based upon his skill with weapons.

I often see gun owners who make the assumption that buying a gun, obtaining a concealed carry permit, and occasionally going to the range  to shoot rounds at a large stationary paper target a couple of yards away makes them better prepared than their potential criminal adversaries.

That isn’t always true, and it may be truer to note that the more dangerous predators in our midst may not have a certificate of graduation from a formal training course and considerable gaps in their educator, but most have a considerable among of aggression and a tendency towards committing violence without a second thought.

Fortunately for the homeowner, most soldiers and private military contractors spend the majority of their time focusing on work with long guns, and spend very little time with handguns or extreme close quarters combat (ECQC) in an entangled ground fight over control of a handgun.

Nothing has been publicly released about the homeowner, nor are we likely to hear about whether he was simply more fortunate in the struggle over Batson’s gun, or if he was better trained.

I, for one, would rather be skilled than just lucky, as being skilled frequently creates “luck.”