What would have been a quiet early Thanksgiving morning for a family in Edmonds, Wash. had been rocked by a shooting incident when a man allegedly broke into the family's temporary residence.
The situation prompted the mother to shoot the alleged intruder after she heard the man pounding on the front door at 3:15 a.m. She first called 911 to ask for help.
As the man tried to force his way inside, the mother realized that she could not keep him out so she decided to shoot the man in the abdomen, reported Edmonds police Sgt. Mark Marsh.
According to the police, the woman was trying to protect her family. Her husband, three children aged 14, 10 and five, and a friend of the children who spent the night with the family, were all sleeping when the incident happened.
"There were kids in the house, so she was protecting herself. And she was scared, and so she was doing what she could to protect her family," said Detective Sgt. Bob Barker of the Edmonds Police Department. He noted that the woman fired one shot after realizing that the alleged intruder was too strong for her.
The family had just moved in a couple of months ago in the rented house.
The suspected intruder, 22, whose name was not revealed, was found wounded outside the house when the police came. After receiving first aid treatment, the man was brought to the Harborview Medical Center. Detectives plan to interview the suspect as soon as he is out of surgery.
"One of the theories the detectives are looking into is the possibility of the suspect being at the wrong house," said Marsh. In the initial investigation, it was learned that the man had been drinking.
The suspect's brother told the media that his brother meant no harm.
Investigators have ruled out the notion that the suspect knew the woman or anyone inside the house. Eyewitnesses believe that the suspect may have been looking for someone who had occupied the place before. It is being leased to the family while waiting for a prospective buyer.
