A Muskogee, Oklahoma man who broke into a home Saturday night was shot and killed by a resident armed with a bow and arrow. According to local police, 33-year old Jarrod Godsey was already deceased when officers arrived and found him on the floor of the home.

Police were dispatched to the home on a report of a person trying to break in, and they found the back patio glass door was broken out when they arrived.

Officers had responded to the home several times over the past month due to Godsey harassing the resident, according to a news release.

I’m sure gun control advocates would love to seize on this story, but I don’t think they’re allowed to ever acknowledge a case of armed self-defense, no matter how much they might want to use it to argue, “you don’t need an AR-15 when you can have a compound bow instead.” Then again, they might see this story and decide that it’s time to ban “assault bows” along with modern sporting rifles.

According to KWTV in Oklahoma City, the dispute between Godsey and the homeowner, Russell Jobe, has been ongoing for months.

“It is definitely pretty bizarre and not something that you hear about happening very often,” Muskogee Police Department officer Lynn Hamlin said. “We’ve had several homicides in those 15 years but none of them where a bow and arrow has been the weapon that was used.”

“It is pretty bizarre that it ended and this way,” Hamlin said. “My biggest question would be what the dispute was over. He (Godsey) was trespassing in there, yet he was coming back.”​

​Neighbors who live in the same duplex said the dispute between Godsey and Jobe had been ongoing throughout the year. ​

Both victim and suspect have criminal records, though in the case of Jobe it appears his previous arrests have been for a non-violent drug offense and a DUI. Godsey, on the other hand, has a much more extensive criminal record, with burglar, domestic assault, pointing a firearm, and violating an order of protection charges filed against him in 2016. It’s unclear what the outcome of those cases were, but clearly they didn’t result in a long prison sentence.

Whatever the beef between the two men may have been about, when it got to the point of Godsey actually breaking into the home, Jobe had a right to defend himself. A bow and arrow may be an unconventional choice for a self-defense tool, but it worked. I’ll be sticking with a firearm for home defense, but I suppose it’s good to know that if ammunition gets even harder to find, a bow and arrow can always be used as a backup.