AUGUSTA, GEORGIA – A homeowner told authorities that she shot a home intruder early Saturday morning. The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office released a report Monday morning with some details about the case.
According to RCSO, they were called around 1:15 am to a home on Crosscreek Road, north of Tobacco Road and west of Windsor Spring. They arrived to find the female homeowner waiting for them. The 49-year-old woman told the responding deputy, “I shot him”, also telling the officer that she believed the intruder may be in the home’s backyard.
She gave deputies the following account of the events which led up to the shooting. Her son, 28, was in the home alone and asleep when he was awakened by something. He left his room and encountered an intruder who was holding a water jug full of change. The resident chased the stranger out and locked the door to the home; however, he discovered that another intruder was still inside.
The mother, who was at work, was called home by the son. She rushed to the residence and met him in the driveway. They entered the home, her armed with a gun, and heard a noise upstairs. When she reached the top of the stairs, she saw a man standing in her room near the window.
They made eye contact and she fired several rounds at him. He jumped out of the upstairs window and was last seen in the back yard. Deputies located a white beanie hat and a torn portion of a white jacket with blood on it, but the intruder was nowhere to be found. The investigation is still active, according to the RCSO.
Any encounter with unknown intruders in a home can prove to be deadly for occupants, even if armed. The homeowner often has an advantage, being able to conceal themselves and let the intruder reveal themselves first.
Entering your home knowing that there are criminal suspects inside, even if you are armed, is not necessarily a smart move. The woman and her unarmed son had no idea how many additional suspects were in the home, where they were located, or if they were armed. They both could have easily been killed by an intruder lying in wait inside the home and created a situation where the responding law enforcement officers were also put at a higher risk as they entered an unknown situation.
Having a firearm is not an excuse to leave common sense out of the equation. Being armed does not automatically make you a hero. History is full of dead victims who were armed and thought that they were invincible.
