Pensacola, Fl
Authorities said a Florida woman shot and killed a man who returned home after an altercation and tried to use an iron tire to break his way inside.
Sheriff Grady Judd told a news conference that the shooting took place shortly after 6 a.m. in an unincorporated area of Auburndale, Polk County. Judd said it appeared that “the shooter was absolutely legal to defend her home from a thief”.
Judd said, “You have the right to protect yourself in your home and be free from house invaders and armed thieves, and of course he was armed with iron tires and trying to enter through the window.” “I have stopped him and I have stopped him permanently.”
Sharif said that the owner of the house and the suspect are known to each other. They had gone out the night before to a pool hall in Lakeland with another man and a woman who was the suspect’s live-in friend. The group of four returned to the woman’s home around 4 am after stopping by a liquor store for a bottle of whiskey.
The sheriff’s office said in a press release that the suspect and his girlfriend got into a “heated argument” around 6 am, and the two men left the house. The two women stayed at home.
Judd said that the suspect drove to the end of the street with his friend before deciding to turn around to bring his girlfriend home with him. The suspect hit the front door, kicked him, demanding to see his girlfriend.
The other man tried to push the suspect to leave, but the suspect grabbed an iron tire from his car and smashed the window of the house. The sheriff’s office said the suspect was shouting and threatened to kill the two women.
Judd said the woman who owned the house got hold of a pistol and shot the suspect, who died on the spot at the scene.
“This is another incident in which you should have left,” said Judd. “But when I got home, this is not your home, and I tried to break into the house to get a friend who did not want to go with you, and she shot and killed you while storming the house with a tire iron, that was a bad choice. This is the last bad choice he will make.”
Judd said that the medical examiner’s office will determine if the suspect is under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The names of the people involved were not disclosed.
The sheriff’s office was still investigating the incident.
