Aggressive Prowler at Elderly Woman’s Oklahoma Residence Meets Her Armed Son-In-Law

In Wagoner County, Oklahoma, a 74-year-old woman called her son-in-law for help after she saw a prowler on her front porch. Unbeknownst to the intruder, she had a video surveillance system. In other words, she saw him before he saw her.

Rather than calling the police, who might be ten or twenty minutes away, the woman called her son-in-law who lives nearby and was would be there in a couple of minutes. The son-in-law, knowing his mom lived alone, hopped in his car and brought more than his cellphone and a few stern warnings.

It seems the prowler became aggressive when the son-in-law arrived and required two gunshot wounds to take calm him down. The first shot wasn’t enough to dissuade him and he was apparently a little slow on the uptake. The second shot, however, took the fight right out of him.

Minutes later, the Wagoner County Sheriff’s Office responded. They sized up the situation, sent the wounded perp to the hospital, and released the son-in-law…sans his gun, of course. They always keep the gun after defensive gun uses for evidence purposes. If you needed a good reason to have more than one, well there you go.

The un-named suspect is expected to survive and police believe he lives in the same area.

Here’s more from newson6.com . . .

Sheriff Chris Elliott said the man who was shot is expected to survive, but said they were waiting to learn more about why the victim was on the property in the first place.

“Her cameras went off this morning, she looked into her cameras, looked out on her front porch and she saw an individual on her front porch that she’s never seen before and he’s wandering around out there,” Sheriff Elliott said.

The Sheriff said just after 6 in the morning, a 74-year-old woman who lives alone reported someone on the property who she didn’t know.

The Sheriff said she called her son-in-law who lives next door for help, who showed up to the house armed with a gun.

Deputies said the son-in-law confronted the man, there was an altercation and the son-in-law ended up shooting the man twice.

A couple of points here.

First, always call 911 first. If you’re the only person present, do it yourself. If others are there, have them make the call. That’s a good idea for a host of reasons including you don’t need the added distraction of interacting with another person on the phone while you’re fighting for your life.

Not only that, but anything you say on that 911 call can be used against you at trial. So if you’re making the call don’t play the 20 Questions game. Give the address, tell them you need police and give a brief description of the problem, a suspect description and tell them what you look like. At that point, some people advise hanging up (the 911 operator will try to keep you on the line). I can find little problem with that unless I’m inside my home then I’ll just put the phone down so 911 can record as the situation unfolds.

If you have someone else on another line making the call to 911, that’s ideal.

If you need to hang up on 911 to have both hands free to engage, or if you have to call someone else for help as this woman did, don’t worry about hanging up on the 911 operator. They’ll probably call back but you don’t have to answer.

This woman was fortunate enough to have her son-in-law living close by. However, unless the woman faced an imminent threat to her well-being, the son-in-law probably should have waited at the end of the driveway to give Johnny Law time to roll up and handle the situation.

Remember, the best way to win a gunfight is to not be there. Don’t risk getting shot to confront someone who doesn’t actually need confronting at that moment. Confrontations can escalate quickly into violence. Conceivably the “good guy” may suffer serious, permanent injuries or even death trying to stop (or corner) a bad person with evil in their heart.

What’s more, shooting people who are merely trespassing is seldom a good move. In most jurisdictions, shooting someone over a property crime doesn’t play well with police, prosecutors or jurors. A jury of your peers may think . . .”He shot that kid because he was stealing his Craftsman lawn mower? He’s just a trigger-happy gun nut who deserves to go to prison!”

Remember, discretion is the better part of valor. Pulling a trigger should always be the absolute last option. Now go forth and stay safe out there.