Lunch Break: Mother kills intruder, saves baby
by LauraLoo
~ “There’s nothing more dangerous than a mom and her baby.”
Sarah McKinley, an Oklahoma teen mother, proved just that as she shot and killed an intruder in order to save her 3-month-old baby on New Year’s Eve.
On top of this, Sarah’s husband died of cancer on Christmas Day.
So why is there a national debate going on about Sarah asking 911 for approval to shoot this intruder who was coming at them with a 12-inch knife? Is there anyone who would dare say this act of protection was not justified?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1-Kz3vU5DY[/youtube]
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[HT: ABC7Chicago]
Jan.05, 2012 12:00 pm |
Video of the day |
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Is the debate over the fact that she asked for approval, or just over the fact that she shot the intruder?
Even though I feel she did the right thing, and had every right to do so, asking the dispatcher left a record of exactly what happened, as it happened. If there is any question about how and why the intruder was killed Sarah has proof she did what she did to protect herself and her child. I think that this was pretty smart of her.
I agree that she did the right thing by protecting her child – but I can see the controversy – it says that she shot him the moment he walked through the door, so the blog saying that he was coming at her with a knife might be far-fetched. But, then again, she didn’t give him the chance to – and if she had, she and her child might not be around to share this story.
Amber, I just re-watched it and you’re right. It does say she shot him the second he walked in the door and that he was armed with a knife, not that he was coming at them with it. I still say she did the right thing, and it’s still unclear whether the controversy is over the shooting or the asking permission.
I agree Len, this is the first I’m hearing of it, and there was no controversery mentioned in the video – but perhaps the blogosphere is ripe with it.
I remember asking a cop about something similar to this incident a long time ago…and his reply was to use “reasonable force to stop the attack”.
ie… a granny living alone shooting a 250 lb intruder holding a baseball bat is ok.
…a middle aged man shooting 2 teenage punks/ intruders inside his home for burglary is not.
…a teenage mom alone with a baby shooting an intruder with a knife is ok.
It’s very, very subjective…
I read another article online about this and now I’ve come to the conclusion that the only controversy here is that Sarah’s husband was in his 50s and married her when she was 16. Yikes! ;)
Yeah, were it me, I would not wait around to see what he was going to do after he got in the door. She did the right thing.
Her husband was in his 50s? I’m sorry, but that’s just wrong. What does a man that age want a 16-year-old wife for?
50-year-old marrying a 16-year-old… yeah. That would not be my daughter.
I am glad she was able to defend herself.
I’ll repeat a question that the great William Jacobsen posted on his blog:
“How have we come to the point that this young mother’s first reaction was to ask permission to defend herself in her home?”
they were after her dead husbacnds cancer meds. i would have blown their heads off.
Carder, exactly.
Makes me want to get a gun and learn how to use it. If someone came after my four kids, I’d have to rely on my wits- not a great plan…
Still seems weird that her husband was 50, and that she had time to get the gun and call 911, etc. But I have no prob with her defending herself and her baby.
Her husband was 58, she was 18. I’m from Oklahoma, so this story has been on our local news almost every day. since it happened.
I told a friend on Facebook who posted this story,
If it was ME..protecting MY baby from an intruder, I wouldn’t have ASKED the dispatcher if it was ok, I would have TOLD the dispatcher “If he comes in, I’m gonna SHOOT him!”
Period.
Don’t retreat, reload!
I think that younger women are probably way more likely to ask permission to do all sorts of things no one else would think to ask permission for.
Is there really any controversy over her actions? I haven’t seen any but I haven’t looked too hard.
Interesting…it’s not exactly legal in every state to shoot someone upon entry of your home. Which means you could end up in court, and be charged with murder. Apparently she just wanted to make sure she had the right to shoot upon entry. Wow, it’s sad she had to go through all this, but she was pretty level headed and did what she had to do. Dude got what he asked for. Check out the “castle law” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Doctrine#States_with_a_Castle_Law
She probably asked because some states, like Massachusetts, prosecute people for murder when they use deadly force to protect their family. But MA is juries have been showing they are smarter than prosecutors by refusing to indict in something over 90% of cases.
In North Carolina, just a few days before this incident, a 14 year old boy killed an intruder. Saved us taxpayers some money too.
http://widk.com/2012/01/05/boy-14-protected-his-sister-inside-home-as-he-shot-dead-intruder-with-a-shotgun/
I think that self-defense, even deadly, is justified and right when someone is threatening you in your home. I do not agree with celebrating the intruder’s death though. He was still a human being, I can’t take pleasure in the death of a human being.
Well put, Jack!
The intruder didn’t just walk in. She’d overturned a sofa in front of the door. That’s what he was found sprawled on.
That boy’s gonna have some bragging rights about his momma.
Hadn’t he been stalking her as well??
She did what she had to do.
Carla, they kind of just graced over that in the video so not really sure…it said she it might have been the guy that she thought might have been stalking her haha.
Like I said, this video isn’t giving us much on why there might be controversy, and it’s really not giving us many details about anything else either to really give us a strong opinion on it.
But if she really was in danger, then of course protecting her baby was important.
Yeah, I would really like a link to the controversy, because I don’t really know where it would come in!
@Kate
“Her husband was in his 50s? I’m sorry, but that’s just wrong. What does a man that age want a 16-year-old wife for?”
Maybe he loves her and she loves him? wild guess.