Students face expulsion from school for pulling gun on home intruder

Erik Fagan and Dan McIntosh, both seniors, were forced to defend themselves from an ex-con trying to break into their apartment

Mr McIntosh scared him off with a gun, but drew the ire of school administrators

The duo will find out their fate as early as this week

Two Gonzaga University seniors are on the verge of being expelled after using a gun to defend themselves from a career criminal trying to break into their apartment.

Erik Fagan and Dan McIntosh, who both live in an off-campus near the school’s Spokane, OR., campus, were accosted last month by a man demanding money while standing in the door of their apartment.

Mr Fagan offered food and a blanket, but declined to give ex-con John Taylor any money, he told KHQ. Mr Taylor then tried to fight his way into the apartment but was scared off by Mr McIntosh’s hand gun.

Troubled duo: Erik Fagan (left) and Dan McIntosh (right) face expulsion for using a gun to ward off an intruder



Explaining that he only opened the door because he thought it was a friend who had left only a few minutes prior, Mr Fagan told the station ‘[Mr Taylor] just asked me for money.’

‘He just said I’m homeless, I’m looking for some money, can you help me out,’ Mr Fagan recalled.

Angered by not getting any money, Mr Taylor then tried pushing his way inside while telling the roommates he was just out of prison, but Mr McIntosh had other plans.

Scene of the crime: This is the Spokane apartment building Mr Taylor broke into

‘He didn’t stick around to see if I was serious or not,’ said Mr McIntosh, ‘I was completely serious with that man.

‘I drew on Mr Taylor and Mr Taylor fled immediately,’ he further recalled to the station.

Career criminal: John Taylor has a long rap sheet with seven prior convictions

Though the gun may have saved both men’s lives, it may have ended their academic careers at Gonzaga.



‘The university’s weapons policy forbids the possession of weapons… in both on-campus and off-campus housing,’ a spokesperson told the station.

Mr Taylor had six prior convictions on his criminal record, and was arrested later that night on an unrelated charge, according to the station.



But that did not stop Gonzaga’s board from going forward Friday with the process necessary to expel the two students from the school.

Despite a likely expulsion being handed down as soon as this week, Mr McIntosh told the station he would do it again without hesitation.

‘My roommate’s life, my life, anybody’s life is worth an expulsion in my book,’ he said.