Toledo woman confronts would-be home invader with handgun

by Chad D. Baus

WTVG (ABC Toledo) reported recently that a Toledo woman with a handgun was able to detain a man who was attempting to gain entry into her home.

From the article:

Tense moments in the early morning hours, as a woman carrying a gun confronts a man trying to get into her home.

The attempted home invasion happened on the 1900 block of Loxley near Upton, just before 5 a.m. Thursday.

It proved Betty Collins is a woman who stands her ground - with a gun in her hand.

"I said, 'Get on the ground.' and he got on his knees. I said, 'no, put your face in the dirt and you're gonna stay there.'," recounted Collins.

The past two mornings, she says, someone has stolen items from her car.

This morning, she says someone was trying to get into her house.

It started outside of the Stop N Go at Loxley and Upton.

Collins' boyfriend was riding his Harley to work at the Jeep plant when he spotted someone he described as 'suspicious,' so he called home to warn her.

Collins says wearing shoes and shorts - no shirt, and at 4:45 in the morning, he started heading toward her house, then started kicking the door, trying to get inside.

"I screamed as loud as I could, 'get off my porch. I have a gun. I will shoot you.' And he stayed at the door," explained Collins. "I'm like, 'Get off my porch. I have a gun. I will shoot you.' He didn't move, so I opened the door and there he was standing 5 inches from the barrel of a loaded .357."

Toledo Police arrested Kyle Caldwell, who's 31 and from Temperance, Michigan.

Collins told WTVG she'll be resting easier inside of the place she's called home the past 13 years.

"I'm not moving. This is my home," Collins is quoted as saying. "That's what the Second Amendment's for. I'm going to continue to protect my home."

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.

13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

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