Georgia Mom Protects Twin Son and Daughter from Home Invader

This is the Georgia Home Invader. This picture was taken on a prior arrest.

 

A mom shoots an intruder five times after he started working his way through her house, growing close to the attic where she had hidden her 9-year-old twins.
The Georgia mother heard knocks on her front door on Friday, assuming they were from someone trying to sell them something. She yelled down to her 9-year-old kids not to answer the door, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted, but the visitor was persistent. He kept ringing the doorbell, prompting the mom to call her husband at work. He told her to get the kids and hide.

The man used a crowbar to break in, and the mom heard him making it closer and closer to where she and the children were hidden in an upstairs closet.

“He opens the closet door and finds himself staring down the barrel of a .38 revolver,” Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Chapman did not identify the woman or say exactly where the shooting took place.
With not other recourse, the mom shoots the intruder five times in the face and neck. Someone, he was still alive and crying on the floor. The mom tells him not to move, and the intruder obliged, Chapman recalled.
The man made it out of the home and tried to drive away, but was soon found in a neighbor’s driveway, bleeding profusely.
“When you got five bullets in you, it makes you kind of disoriented,” Chapman told the AJC.
Luckily for Slater, the gunshots were not believed to be life-threatening, according to a number of newspaper references. Slater was transported to Gwinnett Medical Center and is expected to survive, the sheriff said.
The the wife who shoots the intruder five times is being called a hero by her husband, Donnie Herman, who said, “She protected her kids. She did what she was supposed to do.”

Read more at

 http://www.inquisitr.com/470538/mom-shoots-intruder-five-times-to-protect-children/#lqWgkgG3iWgkPgrc.99

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This is the Walton Co. Georgia home in which the home invasion occurred. (Photo: Kerry Kavanaugh, WSB TV)

             This is a fascinating article, which can be found in almost every newspaper tonight.  This is exactly why ordinary Americans own and practice safe use of firearms.

             I don't mean to criticize this woman.  Each of us need to do what we need to do, and they were the people who were actually there. Many times, enough details are missing from the news articles that we, as "armchair quarterbacks" don't always understand the full motivations for the actions of others. She got five of her six shots in her target, and with adrenaline flowing, that is very good.   I do wish to "take apart" what happened, so that the rest of us, who might not be so lucky, have even an improved margin for safety.
            First, a persistent person at the door, even if they are a salesman, should have the police called.   In most places, an officer can be en route before you need to shoot someone.   Secondly, call the police first, your husband second, as a general rule.   If it had been me, I would have ordered the kids to hide at a pre-arranged place, and I would have shot the intruder as soon as he entered the home.   My local laws allow me to do that.  I would have been attempting to spare my kids from seeing me kill someone, and using myself as an added barrier between the invader and my kids.  This scenario is an excellent impetus to find out exactly what your local police would expect you to do. 
            This intruder was shot five times in the head and neck with a .38 revolver. and he remained alive and crying on the floor.    Ladies, please think again if your defensive weapon is a 22.  He apparently made it out of the house and was able to drive away, being later found in a neighbor's driveway.    
This is why I urge people, even women to explore the possibility of a 40 s&w caliber weapon.  I also urge even women to consider hollow point self defense rounds.  If I have to traumatize my family by pumping rounds into a home invader, then I do not want that person getting up afterward, chasing me, my kids or successfully shooting me, or stabbing me with the knife they likely brought with them.
          Slater's wounds are not expected to be life threatening, and he is expected to survive.   Why does this not make me feel better, or warm and fuzzy ?    Following the plea bargain and the discussion of his performance on intelligence testing by his defense attorney, he will be out there once again, doing the same thing, in your neighborhood and mine.
          I am glad that most people consider this woman a hero, and she is.  She learned to use a firearm and had the intelligence and fortitude to own one in a household with two nine year old boys. She put her fears aside long enough to do the most important thing, which is to protect her kids, no matter what.  She overcame normalcy bias at every turn sufficiently to perform the essential functions here.  Let's tell the truth here. Without that weapon and the woman's training and ability to use it, this man could have raped and murdered that woman in front of her sons, before killing the sons also.  Too often, this is exactly what happens.
         I wish I knew this woman.  I would take her out to lunch and buy her some hollow point self defense rounds.

This is an additional local account:

 http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/20506821/homeowner-shoots-intruder-in



UPDATE:     January 6, 2:46 am

  Subsequent reports indicate that the perpetrator, 32 year old Paul Slater, of Atlanta,  has been arrested six times since 2008, one time, for battery. He was released from jail in August.   He is presently in the hospital on a ventilator and has a punctured lung,  punctured liver and punctured stomach.   He will likely head to surgery for repairs within the next day or so.  It does not appear that initial reports that his injuries are not life threatening, are, in fact,  correct.
    Later reports indicate that the woman used all six rounds in her weapon and that the assailant was still able to get up, and drive his SUV away. He later crashed in a nearby neighbor's woods, and exited the car, where he was found.
     This also speaks to the idea that we might not need those extended magazines on some of these weapons. I'll bet this homeowner would have felt better had she had more rounds, not fewer of them.

      I am also concerned about one thing I read.  Another blogger had made this a racial issue, and it isn't.  A local home invader arrested this week on multiple charges of burglary, home invasion and abduction, was white.  I am afraid criminals are caucasian as much as they are African American or anything else.  Those being robbed or having their homes invaded are of all races also.

     The home in which this home invasion took place appears to be in a rural area.

As of this hour, the latest news report indicates that Mr. Slater remains in critical condition.

Interestingly, Senator Dianne Feinstein has not commented.  Is this the type of citizen for which she would like to restrict firearms ? 

      Tell me, Mr. Obama, how many rounds do I need in my magazine to stop a perpetrator in my home ?