"Thank God I had a gun!": Dog awakens woman to home invader; Glock ends the confrontation

by Chad D. Baus

The Cincinnati News is reporting that a disabled 64-year-old woman, who just got her license to carry a concealed weapon in June to protect herself, repeatedly fired her gun at an intruder during an attempted home invasion robbery last week.

From the article:

"I can shoot good. If I'd a had my glasses on, I probably would have shot better," said Mabel Fletcher. "But who thinks about putting on their glasses when they're getting broken into?"

Officers arrived at her apartment in the 900 block of Kensington Street just after midnight when they responded to a report of shots being fired.

Fletcher told them an intruder came into her home while she was sleeping.

Her dog, a white Bichon Frise named Benji, woke her, so she scrambled in the dark for the 9 mm Glock handgun she bought in February. She keeps it in the nightstand next to her bed.

Fletcher, who has had a stroke and has heart problems and diabetes, said she confronted the intruder with her gun as the woman came into her bedroom.

The woman kept advancing and attacked her, so Fletcher squeezed off a round in self-defense.

"I seen a shadow and then I went to look to see what it was and there she was," Fletcher said. "She pushed me up and started throwing things at me and it went from there and I shot.”

No one was hit. The intruder ran into the back of the house, where she threw an ironing board at Fletcher.

"She was very powerful. She was high. She was wild. I didn't want to shoot her, but I didn't want to get hurt," Fletcher said. "I told her to stop, but she kept coming at me."

Fletcher fired again. This time, the intruder pretended to be struck by a bullet and laid on the floor.

When Fletcher bent over to check to see if she was breathing, the woman lunged at her.

Fletcher fired her gun for the third and final time. The intruder fled out a back window.

Fletcher told reporters she is still shaken up, but is glad she has her gun.

Under Ohio's Castle Doctrine law, which took effect in 2008, if someone unlawfully enters or attempts to enter the owner's occupied home or temporary habitation, or occupied car, citizens have an initial presumption that they may act in self defense.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Vice Chairman.