72-Year-Old Woman Greets Would-Be Home Invasion Robber With Gunfire
ANAHEIM (CBSLA.com) — A 72-year-old woman fired a gun at a would-be home invasion robber over the weekend in an unincorporated area of Anaheim.
Jan Cooper said she was home with her 86-year-old husband, a decorated World War II veteran, in the 10000 block of Gilbert Street around 12:30 a.m. Sunday when she heard an intruder at her front door.
The suspect, however, couldn't get through the locked door, so he attempted to enter through a sliding glass door at the back of the home. The grandmother, while on the phone with a 911 dispatcher, said that's when she warned the prowler that she had a gun.
The man ignored her threats and the resident opened fire with her .357-magnum revolver. The bullet missed the man by mere inches.
"Back up you son of a *****. Back up! Get out of here! Get the hell out of here! Get your butt out now!" Cooper screamed in the emergency recording.
"I am a Christian woman and proud of it. And I don't curse. But after I shot, rage took hold. I just blasted away. In fact, my husband said, 'I've never heard you talk like that,'" Cooper said at press conference.
Cooper added, "It was terror. When you're placed in a situation like that, it's extremely frightening. I know my voice was very labored, my breathing was labored, I was very frightened."
Cooper has owned a gun since she was a teenager.
Her husband said she has a "good shot."
Deputies later arrested Brandon Alexander Perez, 31, of Anaheim in connection to the alleged attempted break-in. He was booked on suspicion of attempted burglary.
Perez was on parole, lives in a halfway house and was recently picked up for another burglary.
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