Woman Kills Intruder Breaking Into Her Home

[dngnb8]

I really can't say "good for her"... no matter what type of evil or unsavory person this is, I can't congratulate any person on taking another person's life. Even in a situation like this. I don't know... it may be just me, lol.

This is why I made the comment, I will feel bad, but I wont feel guilty.

 

[marthachick]

I live in a rural area surrounded by woods. My DS is 20 YEARS old. If someone tried to break into our house & I thought either of us was in danger, I'm sorry but I would NOT be running out the door to the woods. I would be shooting (if he didn't first). The moment you choose to invade my house unwanted is the moment you asked to be shot. No apologies.

I really hope this young woman is able to live a "normal" life after this and applaud her for defending her young son.

 

[The_Alice]

cornflake, have you ever lived in a rural area? Like, somewhere that has neighbors, oh, about every mile, 5 miles, 10 miles? When crap like this happens, running to a neighbors house isn't an option. And seriously, my first thought when I read the article was if she ran out the back door with a baby one of them would have caught her and then where would she be?

I'm glad she wasn't simply another victim.

 

[Jennasis]

My door is locked anytime I'm in the house. I have guns and I'm not afraid to use them. We live in a state where the intruder has to be IN your home. Luckily, my house is also situated that I could easily pick off an intruder from many safe vantage points once they've entered the house.

I also have a large, menacing dog.

Good for this woman. She's a hero.

 

[Embel]

Seriously. Why wait for trouble? Just get out of dodge - grab a cell while fleeing or run to the neighbours but just book it. Looking for armed confrontation is a bad deal - she was lucky, but you're more likely to lose your weapon and end up shot with it than to shoot an intruder in that type of situation.

I really don't think that was an option here. First of all, the intruders were going back and forth between her front and back door trying to get in.

Second of all, think of the logistics here. She's going to grab her baby, her gun and her cell phone and outrun two men? How is she holding all these things?

And even if she does manage to elude them- how far does she have to run in a "rural" area to get help? It took 21 minutes for police to get to her.

 

[mjantz]

I grew up not an hour from where she lives & I know the area fairly well. There's a lot of room between houses & no guarantee (especially during the holidays) that someone will be home.
AFA the 20 minutes it took the cops, saying Blanchard is outside Oklahoma City is a bit misleading. Yes, it's outside OKC but it is by no means a suburb of OKC. It is it's own town. Also, if she's living outside of Blanchard & not in the city limits her call may have been routed to the county sheriffs dispatch. Finally, there are small pockets of the US that still do not have a physical address. If her place falls under this catagory it might have taken the police a bit longer to find her house.
Plus, as I said I grew up not far from Blanchard. I also grew up in a rural area. If someone had been breaking into my parents house from the front my options would have been:
-neighbor on one side: Would have meant crossing a not small section of open space (all homes were on an acre of land)
-Cow pasture: I would have had to scale a barb wire fence & walk probably close to a mile to get to any houses (besides the next door neighbor)
-Horse pasture: I would have had to run across an open field to a highway & cross it to get to a trailer park where hopefully someone was home.

I know it's hard to imagine if you've only lived in cities but there are parts of the US with a whole lot of nothing between neighbors.

 

[cornflake]

Ok, first, I did NOT mean looking for confrontation like she was hoping for it or trying to get herself into that position so she could play Dirty Harry. I realize now that it reads that way, but that's really not what I meant.

I meant just by sticking around in the house, not that she was looking for a fight, but that she was choosing to stay.

Second, have not seen video of her house or the surrounding area. My news had shots of her sitting on her couch with the baby and then a shot of a couch she'd used to barricade the door, out on the curb or whatever, soaked in blood.

As for self defense and outrunning an assailant - there was no assailant in front of her, so it's not the same as standing face to face with someone and turning and running. Which, depending, could be a bad idea or a good one. Yes, it could be a bad idea if someone is determined to catch you.

However, if someone has a gun to you and wants you to get into a vehicle? Run. Even if you think they'll catch or shoot you, run. The option of getting into a vehicle to be taken to a second location pretty much guarantees you'd prefer being shot at the first location if it came to that.

In her case - I dunno, I still go with in the time it took to do all that she did, seems like a much better idea to shove the couch in front of the door and scoot than wait it out and get engaged in an armed confrontation with, as many point out, two people. That's an scenario she was unlikely to prevail in, for a lot of reasons. She may have been unlikely to prevail if she ran too, but outside in her own neighbourhood - and as I didn't see it, yes, there's a difference between there are houses, trees, culverts and she lived in a 1,000-acre open field, but it looked like she lived in a trailer, from the couch curb shot and aren't those usually together? - and if she had a gun in her hand in case someone catches up... I say it seems a better idea.

If there are neighbours, I say she absolutely should've moved - made as much noise as humanly possible once outside and that too seems a more likely win scenario than sticking around.

Imzadi - I'm not a prejudiced juror, I'd listen to everything and weigh the evidence before I convicted you.

 

[mjantz]

No, trailer doesn't always mean close together. I had a friend growing up who lived in a trailer/mobile home & when we were there together we were a ways from anyone.
Yes there are trailer parks but you can buy a mobile home & put it wherever you want. I know people who bought a cheap mobile home to live in while they built a house on a large area of property.

 

[dizluvah]

no question I would shoot an intruder in my home - I would have done so before having our daughter and I certainly would do so now that my baby is here.

I also live in a state where the intruder must be inside my home - I would call 911 when/if I heard someone outside attempting to get in but if they get in before cops show up and they are not scared off by my racking the gun - god help you because I am a good shot.

I have taken classes and hit the firing range on occasion to keep my skills up. It's not enough to take a class and then not touch your gun for years and years - you must shoot it once in awhile. Although a shotgun is a bit different - the spray is wide enough that the accuracy required with a handgun would not be needed with a shotgun. With a shotgun I could just wait at the top of the stairs and announce I had a gun and if that didn't scare them off - an intruder at the bottom of the stairwell would not stand a chance with a shotgun wielding homeowner.

 

[NikitaZee]

Good for her.
I just read up on my state's (Massachusetts) Castle Doctrine. Pathetic. Why make it so hard for folks to defend themselves in their own home if God forbid they ever have a need to?

 

[pooh4evr]

My DH is from a rual area of southern Missouri, there is ALOT of space out there- fields, and fields of rice, cotton, and soybeans, and not much else especially once you get out of the towns, and onto the rual gravel roads- many people live in trailers far from their neighbors, there are no neighborhoods in those areas. So she would have zero chance getting to anyone or anywhere safe. It is her home- why should she leave, protect your family and home by any means necessary. My 2 older girls (10, and 8) are being taught to shoot by my FIL and I am all for it.

 

[The_Alice]

My DH is from a rual area of southern Missouri, there is ALOT of space out there- fields, and fields of rice, cotton, and soybeans, and not much else especially once you get out of the towns, and onto the rual gravel roads- many people live in trailers far from their neighbors, there are no neighborhoods in those areas. So she would have zero chance getting to anyone or anywhere safe. It is her home- why should she leave, protect your family and home by any means necessary. My 2 older girls (10, and 8) are being taught to shoot by my FIL and I am all for it.

My oldest has started going to the range with DH, and we are going to sign him up for the next firearms safety course with our local NRA chapter. I would much rather he understand the dangers involved in handling a weapon than not. I am not crazy pro-gun, but hey, at least he knows the damage that can happen at the end of a gun.

 

[Arielle22]

If I had 2 men at both my doors I would not be able to get out. I have a door in front and one in back and no other easy means to get out if they are trying to get in. Even if I went out a ground floor window, the crinimal would be around the corner of my house before I hit the ground.

I live in the suburbs but have no cell reception in my neighborhood. So I couldn't just escape and use the cell to call for help. My closest neighbor is an elderly woman who I am very friendly with. I wouldn't run to her for help since that could draw the criminals to her.

Also my neighborhood has several summer cottages so many are vacant most of the year.

I say good for this woman. It sounds as if one of those men wanted her, not what was in the house. If someone is robbing a home, they usually leave once they realize someone is home. By them continuing to attempt a break in while knowing she was home means if she ran they would chase her. She did the rational thing.

 

[Shelly888]

That poor girl!! I cannot imagine what she must have been feeling and thinking that night. With all of the gruesome news stories about murdered and raped women and kidnapped and murdered and raped babies and children etc. she must have seen her life flash before her eyes. I don't think she really had any other choice but protect herself and her newborn baby. Sorry to say, I feel a lot better reading this story and it's outcome, than I would have reading the same story with a very different outcome. She acted within the law, and too bad for the guys that messed with her.

 

[Phil'sFrontier]

Terrible thing to happen to a family. A lot of people say...good for her, and things like that. While yes it is good she came out of it uninjured. I wonder did she really need to kill this person? Does this mean that people who commit break and enter residential crimes should receive capital punishment?
This poor woman is now; for the rest of her life going to have to deal with killing someone. To a normal person this has got to be extremely difficult. Everywhere she goes now people will look at her,talk about her. I do not envy her.

I am Canadian, and believe regular people do not need guns. If you feel you need one for protection, IMO you should move somewhere you feel safe. I can't imagine living in fear like that. I believe that the vast majority of people are good and will do me no harm.
In any city there will be a certain amount of crime. Arming the general population just adds more to this problem.

 

[cornflake]

Terrible thing to happen to a family. A lot of people say...good for her, and things like that. While yes it is good she came out of it uninjured. I wonder did she really need to kill this person? Does this mean that people who commit break and enter residential crimes should receive capital punishment?
This poor woman is now; for the rest of her life going to have to deal with killing someone. To a normal person this has got to be extremely difficult. Everywhere she goes now people will look at her,talk about her. I do not envy her.

I am Canadian, and believe regular people do not need guns. If you feel you need one for protection, IMO you should move somewhere you feel safe. I can't imagine living in fear like that. I believe that the vast majority of people are good and will do me no harm.
In any city there will be a certain amount of crime. Arming the general population just adds more to this problem.

Did you ever see the movie "Bowling for Columbine"? It demonstrates kind of hilariously the difference between the media-whipped fear in America and Canada's less-fear-based approach.

People in many places here tend to way, way overestimate crime rates, danger, etc. A couple places in this thread people talked about how you see so many murders on the news - in another thread people talked about how children are so often kidnapped and murdered by strangers, etc. Places that are quite safe - and in the country in general, violent crime rates are very low and have been falling for decades - people still don't think they're safe.

 

[herdtoDisney]

Terrible thing to happen to a family. A lot of people say...good for her, and things like that. While yes it is good she came out of it uninjured. I wonder did she really need to kill this person? Does this mean that people who commit break and enter residential crimes should receive capital punishment?
This poor woman is now; for the rest of her life going to have to deal with killing someone. To a normal person this has got to be extremely difficult. Everywhere she goes now people will look at her,talk about her. I do not envy her.

I am Canadian, and believe regular people do not need guns. If you feel you need one for protection, IMO you should move somewhere you feel safe. I can't imagine living in fear like that. I believe that the vast majority of people are good and will do me no harm.
In any city there will be a certain amount of crime. Arming the general population just adds more to this problem.

What all did you expect this lady to do? Of course it is a terrible thing to have to live with, but really, those guys were breaking into her home, a home they KNEW was occupied.

How I wish the Petit family had been armed...

 

[Shelly888]

I shouldn't speak for anybody else, but maybe the "Good for her" comments are more directed toward the fact that 'she made it out alive' as opposed to 'yee-haw, she shot and killed that terrible man' To me, the sentiments are different. I do not like to see anybody die. In my chosen profession, I work to save lives, or in the case of end of life care, keep them as comfortable and living to the fullest until they actually take their last breath. I hate wars, and wish we could all be pacifists, but the reality of this world is that is not possible. I don't know if she shot to kill, but I do know that in that very moment, she did what she needed to do the protect her family. Had she shot him in the leg, there very well have been a different outcome, no?

 

[luvmy3]

Terrible thing to happen to a family. A lot of people say...good for her, and things like that. While yes it is good she came out of it uninjured. I wonder did she really need to kill this person? Does this mean that people who commit break and enter residential crimes should receive capital punishment?
This poor woman is now; for the rest of her life going to have to deal with killing someone. To a normal person this has got to be extremely difficult. Everywhere she goes now people will look at her,talk about her. I do not envy her.

I am Canadian, and believe regular people do not need guns. If you feel you need one for protection, IMO you should move somewhere you feel safe. I can't imagine living in fear like that. I believe that the vast majority of people are good and will do me no harm.
In any city there will be a certain amount of crime. Arming the general population just adds more to this problem.

Sorry I have to disagree, arming criminals adds to the problem, not arming the general public.
As for this woman GOOD FOR HER, that intruder got exactly what he deserved

 

[Embel]

Terrible thing to happen to a family. A lot of people say...good for her, and things like that. While yes it is good she came out of it uninjured. I wonder did she really need to kill this person? Does this mean that people who commit break and enter residential crimes should receive capital punishment?
This poor woman is now; for the rest of her life going to have to deal with killing someone. To a normal person this has got to be extremely difficult. Everywhere she goes now people will look at her,talk about her. I do not envy her.

I am Canadian, and believe regular people do not need guns. If you feel you need one for protection, IMO you should move somewhere you feel safe. I can't imagine living in fear like that. I believe that the vast majority of people are good and will do me no harm.
In any city there will be a certain amount of crime. Arming the general population just adds more to this problem.

To have everyone in the world move into a safe neighborhood is a lovely notion, but really quite impossible to accomplish.

Besides, she probably felt much safer when her husband was alive...which was just a few weeks ago.

I also believe that that vast majority of people are good- but that still leaves a lot of people who aren't. These men were armed, and breaking into her home. Do you think they meant her harm?