ST. FRANCIS � Farmer Blake Feikert is in fear for his life and for others close to him because the man he admitted to shooting while burglarizing him a second time is walking free.



�We need to have some justice. If they do it once, they�ll be back to do it again,� said Feikert, 39. �I think everybody needs to be able to protect their property.�



The man he shot is recovering from injuries and is home from the hospital, Feikert said, but has yet to be publicly identified or charged after being found 25 days ago in Feikert�s farm shop with a wound from a .45 caliber handgun.



�They tell me it�s under investigation and they cannot release information, but yet, he�s out running around free, bragging to everybody about how he got by with it,� Feikert said.



Based on the man�s profession, which takes him to various personal properties, Feikert said �I believe he is scoping out your house to rob you.�



Name can�t be released yet



The man�s business could not be named because the information might identify him. The Journal can only release a suspect�s name when it�s provided by an official source.



Some two weeks after the shooting, Cheyenne County Sheriff Cody Beeson and County Attorney Nicole Romine concluded in a press release that Feikert acted reasonably in defense of himself and his property.



The sheriff and the prosecutor could not be reached Friday. A request for information to the Cheyenne County District Court was referred to Romine�s office.



Beeson was quoted as saying in a Dec. 7 Journal story that �I don�t release names until I do the charges.�



Feikert said he was awake, making coffee early in the morning Nov. 30 in his northwest Cheyenne County farm home when he �noticed an unusual light in my shop.� Feikert was naturally on edge since a burglary while he was out of town between Nov. 11 and 17 resulted in him losing $40,000 worth of cash, tools, firearms and other items.



�I was in fear of my life, and felt like things needed to come to an end. I went out to confront the problem and noticed (an intruder) had my firearm, (a 7.62 by 25 Russian caliber handgun). He got through my booby traps and grabbed it out of my drawer that morning (Nov. 30). I saw the desk drawer opened and saw that he had it in his hand,� Feikert said. �I knew he had my firearms from the break-in before, so I knew he was armed.�



In the first burglary, he lost seven guns. A glove was found on his farmstead matching one the man was using during the second break-in, Feikert said, and the two flashlights taken in the first break-in were used Nov. 30.



�Once I discovered he had my firearm, I was in fear of my life. I stepped back. I had the light (from the flashlight he was holding) on me through the inside window, and I shot him before he could shoot me,� Feikert said. �I am 45 minutes out from anywhere. It is my life. I would have been the one dead on the ground.�



In the moments after the shots rang out, he was unaware if a bullet struck the intruder. Feikert said he was about 12 feet from the shop window when he shot his handgun three times.



�I didn�t know if I got him or not,� he said.



Feikert later noticed that the intruder �fell face-first in between my two boats. I didn�t know know if he was alive. I discovered him long after he was no longer a threat to me.�



Next, Feikert made a 911 emergency call and reached a Cheyenne County dispatcher.



�I called up and said I shot a robber, that I was in fear of my life and to �please come soon,� � he said.



Seven officers came within 45 minutes, Feikert said. Some were with the sheriff�s office and others with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks & Tourism.



By then, Feikert was hiding in a windbreak. He noticed a green Chevrolet Camaro convertible on the move nearby and was unaware if the occupants were involved.



�They went up the road two miles to the west, turned around and came back to another road a mile south and went down to (Kansas Highway 27). They turned around, sat there for a minute and headed west,� Feikert said. �At the same time, I saw police lights on the highway.�



One law enforcement unit gave chase to the car and the others proceeded to his farmstead.



Feikert said he later learned that a woman was in the car and assumed she is connected in some way to the man he shot in his farm shop. While being detained in the back of a sheriff�s patrol unit, Feikert said, he heard a deputy call for a wrecker service to tow the Camaro that was found a half-mile from his home, on his property parked near a natural gas compressor.



The injured man was taken to Cheyenne County Hospital and then flown to a trauma care center in Denver, Beeson reported in a Dec. 7 story.



Feikert said he knew the name of the man who owns the Camaro. The name of the man who was shot has not been released by law enforcement.



Feikert said he called authorities in Colorado and learned the man has an arrest record there.



Based on information he gleaned from friends in the area, Feikert said the Camaro owner has retrieved his car from impound.



�This guy should have never gotten out of jail, and I think he should have paid for his crime,� Feikert said,. �How can somebody that can rob you at gunpoint get away with this? It�s just a matter of time before he hurts someone else or hurts my family.�



Describing himself as �jumpy, skittish and traumatized� since shooting the intruder, Feikert said he has visited with his pastor.



�What right does a man have if we cannot protect our own property,� he said, �and why must I keep going in fear of my life?�



Feikert said he likes Sheriff Beeson, but he wonders about the law enforcement process.



�I feel like they�re trying to do their job, but they don�t want to spend money and their time,� he said. �This is an open case and we need to be protected.�



The right to protect your property and defend yourself is covered in the 2nd Amendment, Feikert said.



�This has turned my life upside down. I am a changed individual from this,� he said. �I�m a dominant individual, but I am a godly man.�



� Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 822-1419 or by email at tunruh@salina.com.