This here’s a feel-good FAFO moment for you. This is the moment a Black man named Cedric Ford and his apparently Methican-American accomplice found out that a t-shirt with the words Please do not disturb across the front is nowhere near as effective at deterring bullets as body armor.
On July 22, 2026, a 74-year-old stroke survivor named Donald Bolynn caught a would-be home invader moving between a door and a window, trying to get into the house. Fortunately, before the intruder could gain access, the homeowner retrieved his firearm and dissuaded the man.
With a shot to the chest.
Donald Bolynn, a stroke survivor with a long recovery ahead of him, put a single round into 57-year-old Cedric Ford after Ford brazenly beat on the door and attempted to pry a window open. Ford fled the scene with his accomplice, 47-year-old Sanja Stallings, to a nearby Quik-Trip to call 911 for help.
“Got up off the couch and come to the front door and looked out. I didn’t see nothing,” Bolynn said, but then he did see Ford outside his window. He fired a single shot, striking the suspect in the chest. Bolynn continued, “That’s when I got my gun and shot.”
The initial encounter and police response were both caught on video, first by a Ring doorbell and then by another camera at the gas station. Ford and Stallings initially claimed he’d been the victim of a drive-by shooting, but the story was quickly dispelled.
Gastonia (NC) Police Department investigators reportedly used video evidence and gunshot-detection technology to prove the story was false and that the injury occurred during the attempted break-in. The detection receivers are part of a Flock network across the city and reportedly helped narrow the shooting down to a location within 100 feet of Bolynn’s home.
Ford has been charged with attempted first-degree burglary and felony obstruction of justice, and Sanja Stallings has been charged with first-degree burglary.
Gastonia, NC, is a city of approximately 81,000 residents and is the seat of Gastonia County. GPD has around 180 sworn officers and another two dozen employees.
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