Woman rings 911 to ask if she could shoot intruder

[Pete]

Home alone with her 3-month-old son, McKinley of Blanchard, Oklahoma, said she decided to make a stand when the two men tried to break into her home on New Year's Eve.

McKinley, who had been widowed less than a week before, placed a couch in front of one door and went to the bedroom and put a bottle in her baby's mouth before calling 911, she said on HLN's "Dr. Drew" on Wednesday.

A 911 operator calmly spoke with McKinley, who asked if it was permissible to shoot an intruder, officials said.

"I've got two guns in my hand. Is it OK to shoot him if he comes in this door?" asked McKinley, 18.

"Well, you have to do whatever you can do to protect yourself," dispatcher Diane Graham responded. "I can't tell you that you can do that, but you do what you have to do to protect your baby."

In the end, McKinley fired a 12-gauge shotgun and killed Justin Shane Martin after he entered her home, according to a Blanchard Police Department affidavit filed in court Wednesday. Martin was armed with a knife, authorities said.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/05/justice/oklahoma-intruder-shooting/index.html

[Stuart]

You have to admire anyone who can hold two guns and dial 911.

It is important that she tried to deter entry to a room with the couch, I think - it shows to me that she hoped for a non-violent conclusion through making forced entry more difficult,  rather than going all John Wayne at the first opportunity. And it's not just the good old, barmy USA - over here, there have been three high-profile cases of residents killing intruders in the Manchester area in recent times, if memory serves, and coming out of it without charge, or being acquitted.