A young Oklahoma mother shot and killed an intruder to protect her 3-month-old baby on New Year's Eve, less than a week after the baby's father died of cancer.
Sarah McKinley says that a week earlier a man named Justin Martin dropped by on the day of her husband's funeral, claiming that he was a neighbor who wanted to say hello. The 18-year-old Oklahoma City area woman did not let him into her home that day.
On New Year's Eve Martin returned with another man, Dustin Stewart, and this time was armed with a 12-inch hunting knife. The two soon began trying to break into McKinley's home.
As one of the men was going from door to door outside her home trying to gain entry, McKinley called 911 and grabbed her 12-gauge shotgun.
McKinley told ABC News Oklahoma City affiliate KOCO that she quickly got her 12 gauge, went into her bedroom and got a pistol, put the bottle in the baby's mouth and called 911.
"I've got two guns in my hand -- is it okay to shoot him if he comes in this door?" the young mother asked the 911 dispatcher. "I'm here by myself with my infant baby, can I please get a dispatcher out here immediately?"
The 911 dispatcher confirmed with McKinley that the doors to her home were locked as she asked again if it was okay to shoot the intruder if he were to come through her door.
"I can't tell you that you can do that but you do what you have to do to protect your baby," the dispatcher told her. McKinley was on the phone with 911 for a total of 21 minutes.
When Martin kicked in the door and came after her with the knife, the teen mom shot and killed the 24-year-old. Police are calling the shooting justified.
"You're allowed to shoot an unauthorized person that is in your home. The law provides you the remedy, and sanctions the use of deadly force," Det. Dan Huff of the Blanchard police said.
Stewart soon turned himself in to police.
McKinley said that she was at home alone with her newborn that night because her husband just died of cancer on Christmas Day.
"I wouldn't have done it, but it was my son," McKinley told ABC News Oklahoma City affiliate KOCO. "It's not an easy decision to make, but it was either going to be him or my son. And it wasn't going to be my son. There's nothing more dangerous than a woman with a child."
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A great story. Good job to this woman! Glad her child is safe.
jfc, this woman has had one hell of a rough time. i hope things get better for her soon.
Those men are disgusting, and I'm glad that, for once, the bad guys were hurt instead of the the potential victim. Damn. I'm usually not the person to celebrate a shooting, but who knows what they would have done to that woman, had they gotten inside.
Yup.
Glad she and the baby are safe, and I can't say I feel bad for the guy that died. If he came in with a hunting knife, then he knew he could kill her with that.
It's sad, revolting and disgusting. Not great
ETA: Can you imagine being the dispatcher in this scenario? God. Crying again.
Edited at 2012-01-04 09:50 pm (UTC)
Seriously. I could tell just from the transcribed dialogue that the dispatcher wasn't legally allowed to say, "Yes, you can shoot him if he breaks in," but that ze really wanted to tell her that. Not being able to do anything other than talk to her, and hearing everything that was going on... that's got to be such a hard job.
http://www.kfor.com/news/local/kfor-com
Also, Grady County officials tell us there wasn't just a 911 call from McKinley, but from one of the men who tried to break-in her home.
*Shakes head* What the fuck!
Except they didn't..?
Operator didn't say "ok to shoot"
I'm glad she was able to protect herself and the wee baby. Hopefully they'll be okay.
Guns are good in the right hands.
I'm glad none of that happened.
Though I'm kind of holding out for the days where this sort of article is never fucking written...
I'm relieved, however, that she and her son are okay. I just cannot imagine being put through all that. I really hope she's got some supportive family or friends to get her through this in the long term.