A recent defensive gun use in Alabama provides an important lesson for anyone who owns and carries firearms for self-defense purposes. A domestic dispute in Huntsville, Alabama, resulted in Lisa Skinner shooting her husband Bradley, only to be shot by police shortly thereafter. The (unnamed) woman had been living at her mother’s house after leaving her estranged partner. The man allegedly broke into the house on Sunday night, armed with a gun. The woman instructed her mother to flee to a neighbor’s house while she triggered an alarm, called the police, and tooled up with a shotgun. When the man refused to drop his weapon and stop his advance, she opened fire . . .
Unfortunately, stopping the attack didn’t end her troubles, as AL.com reports.
Police officers arriving at that moment heard gunshots and saw the woman in the garage, holding the shotgun. They demanded she drop the weapon, and when she turned toward them with the gun in her hand, at least one officer opened fire.
The woman was struck by the police gunfire. Both she and the man were taken to Huntsville Hospital.
Lawson said the woman’s condition was listed as non-life-threatening. The man’s condition is life-threatening.
This story is a shame in more ways than one, perhaps the biggest being that, in the heat of the moment, Skinner either hadn’t planned for or had forgotten what to do when Johnny Law arrived on the scene. When the police approached, shouting instructions at her, she (no doubt instinctively) turned toward them. Still holding the shotgun.
When cops get to the scene of any shooting, they will automatically assume that whomever is holding the firearm is a threat. Unless the threat is still potentially ongoing, putting away the firearm before the police get there may be the best thing to do. Granted, it doesn’t sound like there was much time in this case between the end of the DGU and the arrival of the police. Stuff, as they say, happens.
Oh, and one last thing – AL.com also reports that the Skinner “had taken at least one restraining order out for her own protection” against the alleged her husband, which he had repeatedly violated. I don’t know about you, but I’m glad she realized that hot lead and cold steel provide more security from a determined attacker than a piece of paper.