“I can’t tell you that you can do that but you do what you have to do to protect your baby.” – 911 operator’s advice to Sarah McKinley, abcnews.go.com
“I can’t tell you that you can do that but you do what you have to do to protect your baby.” – 911 operator’s advice to Sarah McKinley, abcnews.go.com
Good girl. Gotta feel for her situation, though. Eighteen years old, 3-month-old son, hubby died of cancer on christmas. Good luck, honey.
Not to mention it takes a special kind of lowlife to hear about a story like that and think “hey, she’d make a great target for a home invasion.” I’m sure the perp’s a better man now thanks to the extra ventilation she provided.
You go, girl.
If she were in Washington State, she wouldn’t have to wait. You have the right to use lethal force defend yourself and anyone you’re with against the threat of grave bodily harm or death anywhere you’re legally allowed to be. You don’t have to wait for the guy to break down your door, to get on your property, none of that.
It might be difficult to prove grave danger if you are on one side of a locked door and the bad guy is on the other.
That’s a fair point. I’ll have to see what the case law is on that. I think if the guy has a knife and is beating on your door there’s a threat there, so it might be enough.
It might; I’m no lawyer. The text of the law contains the phrase “imminent danger”. Personally, I’d hold my fire until the instant he/she/it breaks through the door. After that, of course, continue firing until the threat is stopped.
You’re right, that’s probably the safest way, especially if the guy has a knife and not a gun.
As for this case, she did absolutely the right thing, no question.
Great story. Good for her. My sympathies to the young wife who lost her husband recently to cancer. Could anyone tell what make or model her SxS shotgun was?
“It’s not an easy decision to make, but it was either going to be him or my son. And it wasn’t going to be my son. There’s nothing more dangerous than a woman with a child.”
Impressive story!
The only thing I know more dangerous is a father protecting his child.
Oh, I question that. Fathers will just kill you. Mothers tend to bring doubts to your very existence.
Well said.
Are we discussing a father protecting his child from an intruder or a mother slowly over-time attacking her child’s self-esteem?
One more thing, statistically which parent do you think has historically been able to physically protect the children, the other spouse, and home better from attack whether using guns, edged weapons, or bare hands?
In my experience women have a lot less remorse and mercy when pushed to extremes.
Good for her. Normally I would say something like, “tough choices, right choices”, “gonna be hard to live with, but was the right decision” etc… but after watching her being interviewed, she seems like she is one tough cookie.
While I wouldn’t hesitate to shoot someone to protect my family, I also know myself well enough that taking another life would weigh on me emotionally for some time, even though logically I’d know it was the right decision. She seemed to be handling it well – even the 911 call seemed calm. Almost like a military radio comm “target is acquired, request authorization to engage, over”.
She might have been emotionally wrung out due to the illness and death of her husband. No tears left for the goblin.
Did anyone else notice that she was on with 911 for 21 minutes? Does that mean it took 21 minutes for the cops to get there?
Could very well be. Depending on where she is, that could even be a good response time. That’s what gives rise to that old chestnut, “when seconds count, the police are minutes away.” In this case, they might have been 21 minutes away.
Sadly, yes. Blanchard, Ok. is a rural town south of Oklahoma City. It’s off the beaten track and it isn’t unheard of for a delay on the order of tens of minutes.
“Pistol Packing Mama” “Make My Day”
These are the banner headlines on the video of the story. Hard to find a tear for the human debris she dispatched, but these sort of things trivialize the gravity of taking a human life.
I doubt many who are prepared to take a life in self defense thinks it is cute or trivial.
I’ve referred to Mrs. Moonshine as a “pistol-packin’ mama” on a few occasions. Usually earns me an elbow in the ribs.
“…takes maternal instinct to a whole new level.”
That’s ABC for you. The implication: “A homeowner SHOOTING an INTRUDER?? What craziness is this??”
Yeah. That’s kind of the point. If a hood were breaking into my home and threatening my family, that would be the only reaction I would have.
Hmmm…a few years ago, my stepbrother had a home invasion one night. He was armed, and on the phone with the 911 operator. He told the guys breaking in the door he was armed and on the phone with the police. The intruder didn’t stop. The operator said “do what you have to do”. The intruder got in the door, and when faced with an armed resident…backed up, and ran off. He was caught seconds later.
I think most 911 operators would do the same thing. Tell the people to defend their life.
While I agree the above 911and operator quote is the most significant, my favorite comment is “I grabbed my shot gun, … gave the baby a bottle and called 911.
Beautiful illustration of a mothers love.
Good for her!
Well deserved for the bad guy.
As for the other bad guy he needs to rot in jail or swing. Flip a coin.
Where is MikeB on this one?
I think he was the accomplice.
I’m just catching up on this one. On my own blog I wrote that there are legitimate DGUs, but they’re rare.
In this case, I say thank god she had guns in the home and the wherewithal to use them properly.
Thanks for the chuckle, Ralph.
Presidential press secretary shootings are also rare. What’s your point?
if you and your posse had your way, mikeb, after dearming her, she would be defenseless, raped and left for dead.
Except if you had your way Mikey, she wouldn’t have legally been allowed to own that gun in the first place. Then where would she be?
When I heard this story it gave me some hope for the human race when the dispatcher said “do what you have to do to protect your baby”. This reaction was mainly due to my experience with the sheriffs office teen academy that I participated in during high school. I was with my dad on the first trip we took which was to the local dispatch station where to show us some of the stuff that they had to deal with, they played a voice recording of a 911 call where someone was trying to break into a woman’s apartment. In the recording the woman indicates that she had a gun and the dispatcher tells her to put it down repeatedly and when she does the intruder breaks into the apartment and rapes her in front of her kid who was hiding in the closet. After hearing this I asked with a little more than mild irritation why the hell the dispatcher told her to put her gun away. To this the speaker merely replied well they didn’t want the police officers put in danger. However they didn’t even find the apartment until the rapist had left and it was too late. This particular incident soured my dad’s and my opinion of police dispatchers. Of course this was in California so we really shouldn’t have been so surprised, at least we sort of have castle doctrine.
This is why I believe that EVERY woman should be armed
Here’s the lesson to be learned by all the anti-self defense wingnuts and the Brady morons. Let them rely on 911, while I’ll rely on Smith & Wesson. We’ll see who ends up on the Nightly News, and who ends up in the morgue.
No sadness at all for the perpetrator. He got what he deserved.