A 72-year-old Southern California woman shot at a man who broke into her home according to the Army Times. Jan Cooper, a World War II veteran's wife, fired her .357 Magnum Smith and Wesson revolver at the intruder and called 911 in the mist of it all.
According to reports, the woman asked the dispatcher to send the authorities to her home but warns that she is armed.
"I'm firing!" Cooper tells the dispatcher. "You'd better get the police here. I don't know whether I hit him or not. I'm not sure. He's standing at my door, my back door. He's in my yard."
"I'm sorry, ma'am. I'm leaving. Please don't shoot," the intruder said according to Cooper.
Brandon Alexander, 31, has been identified as the intruder. He was not injured during his attempt and was arrested shortly after the initial shot was fired from Cooper's gun. Alexander was charged with burglary to which he pleaded not guilty.
"Perez had a rap sheet that included other burglary and narcotic charges and was on parole and staying at a halfway house not far from the Coopers' address," said Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department. "Even though that dog was barking [Cooper's Rottweiler], he still was desperate to get in. So who know what may have happened if she didn't fire that found."
"I am a Christian woman and I'm very proud of it and I don't cure but after I shot, rage took hold and I just blasted away," Cooper said, according to the Army Times. "And, in fact, afterwards my husband said, 'I've never heard you talk like that! I don't mean to shoot anybody but whatever's necessary to literally stop them-- he was not going to come into my home."
