Woman kills intruder

Springfield News-Sun
March 23, 2004

A Springfield woman shot and killed a 21-year-old man early Sunday, reportedly after the victim and a companion broke into her Chestnut Avenue home, police said.

Matthew J. Marino, 21, whose address was not immediately available, was pronounced dead at Mercy Medical Center at 3:45 a.m., Springfield police Lt. Michael Hill said. Officers found Marino lying on the driveway at 346 Chestnut Ave. with a gunshot wound in his abdomen.

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Hill said investigators were interviewing several people Sunday night in connection with the shooting and planned to execute a few search warrants.

"We anticipate charging another person we believe is involved in this," he said.

Springfield police received a call at 2:50 a.m. from Melany Yancey, 49, of the Chestnut Avenue address, Hill said. She told them that while she was home alone, two men wearing bandannas kicked in her front door and came upstairs.

Yancey told police she sealed herself in her bedroom, but the two men tried to break in. She took her .40-caliber handgun and fired a shot in the direction of the door, she said, and someone fired back.

Yancey reportedly said she heard the intruders move into the bedroom of one of her two adult sons, neither of whom were at home. She ran out of the room, attempting to escape, and fired two rounds at the intruders, she said. One of bullets hit Marino.

Yancey told police she ran to a neighbor's house where she dialed 911.

Hill said police had not found the gun reportedly carried by the intruders, but officers did find a shell casing from a weapon other than Yancey's handgun.

Police did not expect to charge Yancey with any crime, Hill said.