The following account of a brave woman who defended herself with a handgun appeared in an earlier edition of The Armed Citizen®.
A weekend of extreme violence by a man against his wife ended when she bravely defended herself with a handgun. As the man held his wife against a wall by her throat, she was able to fire her pistol into his chest, ending the abuse. She then called 9-1-1. When police arrived, they found the woman with a bloody mouth, swollen left eye, face and rib injuries, and possibly a broken ankle. The man was still alive, lying on the ground, with signs of being intoxicated. When police attempted to help him, he made an obscene comment and gesture. Officers soon discovered evidence that the attacker was not only abusing alcohol, but marijuana and testosterone as well. The victim claimed that he had been verbally and physically abusing her for many years.
Here's how the victim said the final attack unfolded: Asleep with her dogs, she awoke to her husband shaking the bed, behaving erratically. He began to hit the dogs, and when she tried to protect them, he turned his fists onto her. The abuser then handed her a gun and ordered her to shoot him. However, he temporarily left the room, so she hid the firearm. During the attack, she fell to the ground and he began kicking her, breaking one of her ribs. He then threw her against the wall and dragged her into the living room where the assault continued. She said at one point she was hit so hard she lost her memory. When she awoke, she was on the couch and her husband had a gun to her head. He instead shot at the couch.
He then began threatening to burn down the house, saying he would kill her and her family, then burn her, and finally kill himself. When he disappeared into the garage, the woman retrieved the firearm she had hidden earlier. She heard him shifting around gas canisters, which police later found in the kitchen. The woman attempted to flee, but she was dragged her back into the house by her hair. That’s when he pinned her to the wall by her throat and continued to hit her. She felt she was losing consciousness, so she fired the gun until “it was just clicking.”
The man died of his wounds, and the victim is facing no charges. (kctv5.com, Leavenworth County, Mo., 05/24/22)
