Woman, 89, grabs handgun and fires at intruder

[GreenStormCloud]

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S1521850.shtml?cat=648

(AP) DES MOINES, Iowa - An elderly Des Moines woman used a handgun to ward off a man who bashed in the front door of her home. Beatrice Turner said the man pounded on her door early Tuesday. Despite being told he had the wrong house, the man used his fists to break through the wood door.

The 89-year-old Turner said she grabbed a handgun and told the man she would shoot if he came inside. When the man entered, she fired a single shot.

A neighbor called police, who found 37-year old Nelson McAlpine standing on Turner’s front lawn. The uninjured McAlpine was arrested on a charge of second-degree burglary.

Without her gun, what chance would an 89 year-old woman have against a male home-invader who is strong enough to break her door in with his fists?

You can see the damage he did with his fists to the door at this link: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100421/NEWS01/4210357/-1/BUSINESS04/Elderly-Des-Moines-woman-puts-.22-caliber-stop-to-break-in

BTW, also at the second link:

"He was a big, burly guy," Turner said. "He was pulling at his shorts and talking crazy..." Again, what chance is an 89 yr-old woman going to have against a thug like that, unless she has a gun?

"McAlpine, who has an extensive police record..." We need to start taking the criminals off the streets. Do that and the gun crimes by criminals will go down markedly.

[slackmaster]

1. The intruder was clearly emboldened by the presence of the gun

Otherwise he would have simply left once he discovered he was at the wrong house.

[freebrew]

2. Right!

Anytime I see someone with a gun, I'm tempted to attack them.

:banghead:

[tburnsten]

3. Generally that's the best thing to do you know

Awhile back, there was a poster on here who, while we were discussing open carry, said that if someone were to open carry into a restaraunt or cafe he was in, he would pick up a steak knife and murder the guy.

Preemptive self defense is what he was going for. I couldn't believe anyone could be that violent and hateful.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. What with you channeling Sharesunited?

Did he bite into a granite cookie?

[Hoopla Phil]

5. She should take up karate or get a dog. There is NO reason for someone to use a gun.

:sarcasm:

[Ready4Change]

6. Reading the article, seems the gun didn't help her much.

If I'm reading the article correctly, she fired one shot, missed, tried a second time and the gun didn't fire. At some point the intruder was inside the house, pounding on a coffee table (?) and she convinced him to come outside the house with her. He was still outside when the police arrived.

The only way the gun seems to have helped was that the sound of the shot prompted neighbors to call the police. By the time they arrived she had gotten the intruder out of the house on her own.

[GreenStormCloud]

7. Don't you think that her having a gun in her hand helped calm the guy down?

He didn't know that she didn't know how to correctly operate it.

[Ready4Change]

8. Sounds like he was high.

She said, as he was breaking through the door, don't come in or I'll fire. When he did come in she fired once, missed, tried again and the gun failed to fire. By then, he was pounding on the coffee table. (This is in the second article linked to in the original post. It has more extensive coverage.)

From how I read that, it sounds to me like maybe he didn't even notice her, or her gun. Sounds like he just wasn't all there.