EVIL ON THE DOORSTEP

His left wrist was shattered. He reached with what he had left and threw a round in the chamber without feeling it.

At that moment, Ryder launched himself at the attacker … biting at his feet and ankles. Murr broke free and ran to the bedroom, slamming and locking the door behind her.

The attacker turned toward the dog.

He fired all six rounds into the man's upper back. The attacker dropped to his knees, then collapsed. As he attempted to rise, he dropped his pistol.

Wayne wasn't finished. He didn't know if the man had other weapons. He picked up the attacker's gun and fired one final shot.

The entire encounter … from Wayne opening the door to that last shot, lasted approximately ten seconds.

Murr, barricaded in the bedroom with a shotgun laid across the bed, heard the shots and feared the worst.

Then … Wayne's voice came through the door. "It's OK to come out. I need your help."

She was terrified to believe him. "Wayne would die before he did that," she told herself. But her first thought was that the attacker was making him say it.

"Kaye, I'm shot. I'm bleeding. I need help. He's dead. I killed him. He's dead."

She opened the door.

What she walked back into was overwhelming. She composed herself enough to help Wayne into a rocking chair on the porch and put pressure on his wounds.

She tried calling 911. She was shaking so badly she could barely speak.

What neither of them knew yet: the man who had been standing in their screened porch that morning was Gregory Ryan Miedema … a convicted sex offender, a fugitive, and a man who had shot a sheriff's deputy nine hours earlier and roughly seven miles north on the same highway.

Police agencies across the state had been searching for him through the night. At 11:30 p.m., a Florida Blue Alert had gone statewide. Wayne's phone buzzed with it in the living room while he and Murr slept in the next room.

Miedema had been on the property for hours. Police discovered he had brought eight firearms, approximately 50 pounds of ammunition, two tactical vests, and a spiked wooden bat. Investigators believe he was planning to ambush responding officers.

A Florida Highway Patrol trooper was first on scene about 25 minutes after the 911 call. Within an hour, more than 50 officers had descended on the property.

Wayne was loaded into an ambulance – Murr insisting she ride alongside him.

At the hospital, doctors found that the bullet in his left shoulder had lodged near his neck after hitting an artery and shattering his fifth vertebrae. Both bullets were left in his body.

The day after the attack, Wayne called the Delta Defense Critical Response Team.

He understood that the legal aftermath of a self-defense shooting … even a clearly justified one, doesn't always resolve itself.

Having someone to help him navigate what came next was a large part of why he had become a USCCA Elite Member in the first place.

Critical Response Team professionals contacted the involved law enforcement entities to confirm no charges were being pursued.

Shortly after, Taylor County Sheriff Wayne Padgett and Florida State Attorney for the Third Circuit John Durrett reached out to Wayne directly to assure him he was in no danger of being charged.

A few weeks later, Wayne was invited to a dinner with eight Florida county sheriffs and FDLE officials. He was recognized for his actions, named an honorary deputy of Taylor County, and awarded an official badge and ID.

"I was lost for words," Wayne said. "All I could do is thank them. It brought tears to my eyes."

Sheriff Darby Butler said it plainly at the press conference the morning after: "He woke up this morning not expecting to have to go through this. No one expects that. But he was prepared, and he gets to live this evening and embrace his loved ones at his home."

When asked whether Wayne's actions had saved law enforcement lives, FDLE Special Agent April Glover didn't hesitate.

"Absolutely."

Murr still carries the trauma. She's startled easily. She hasn't been able to return to her job as a flight attendant. The place she grew up thinking of as a safe haven no longer feels that way.

Wayne is working toward a full recovery. He's back to fishing.

And Ryder … who bit the attacker's feet and ankles in the moment that allowed Murr to escape … got a steak dinner all to himself the night after.

"I gave him the whole steak," Wayne said.

For Wayne Pert, being a USCCA Member wasn't just about the moment the door opened … it was about knowing someone had his back when the door finally closed.