'He wouldn't stop coming': Milwaukee mom shot dead home intruder to 'defend her children'
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN: A mother who fatally shot a "strange man" who had broken into her home has maintained that she acted in defense of her children.
The mother-of-two, who asked to remain anonymous, was reportedly showering before work on Monday morning, August 15, when she heard her children, aged 12 and 14, screaming from the living room. She told police she ran to her bedroom while still dripping wet and immediately grabbed her gun to face down the man. She said the intruder was undeterred even after being attacked by her two pit bulls, and she shot him multiple times because "he wouldn't stop coming."
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“It all happened so fast — an adrenaline rush,” the mother told WTMJ on condition of anonymity. Community leader Bushraa Rahman reportedly helped the woman clean up the home after the body was removed. “She was scared because her children were there with her. So, she did what any mother would do. She defended her children,” Rahman told WTMJ. “It was an act of self-defense.” While police haven't identified the alleged intruder, the mother said he appeared to be in his late 30s and was acting erratically. Police arrested the mother after the shooting, but released her after several hours of questioning. They said they will not be releasing any more information on the case and that the incident will be referred to the District Attorney's Office.
“In today’s day and age, with mental health and everything else that’s taking place in the world, I mean, you better protect yourself. To be honest, you have to,” Rahman said. Meanwhile, the mother said her children are traumatized by the incident and that they plan to move out once they find a new place to live. She said she bought the gun almost a decade ago after apparently discovering a man sleeping under her son's bed. She said she had hoped to never use it. "I knew I'd be able to do it [shoot the intruder]," she added. "To protect my kids."
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MEAWW previously reported how a 93-yr-old man fatally shot an intruder after a gang of thugs broke into his home in Moreno Valley, California. Joe Howard Teague fatally injured one of the gang members on June 29. The homeowner told KNBC-TV how the group, which included "ladies and men," kicked his front door open and "the big guy, he came at me," while the rest of the group "started throwing objects that [were] in the house at me." Teague told the station that "when they broke in, they got a lot of my equipment, and I approached them to put them under citizens arrest." He added, "I kept telling them, 'I have a shotgun with three shells in it,' but I actually only had one. And they kept throwing stuff at me." In a press release titled "Homeowner Justified in Shooting of an Intruder," the sheriff's office identified the injured intruder as 33-year-old Joseph A Ortega of Moreno Valley. Teague was unhurt, the release stated.