Loganville, GA – A Georgia mother took an ex-con intruder by surprise when she shot him five times after he attempted to force his way into her home Friday afternoon.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the mother initially thought that the knocks at her door were coming from a solicitor, and told her twin 9-year-old children not to answer. After the doorbell began to ring repeatedly, the 37-year-old mom called her husband, who was at work. He told her to take the kids and hide while he dialed 911.
She took the children and hid in a crawlspace, while Paul Ali Slater forced his way into the three-story home with a crowbar, reports Fox News . He rummaged through the home, working his way up to the third-story office where the mother and her children were hiding.
“He opens the closet door and finds himself staring down the barrel of a .38 revolver ,” said Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman, who told the woman’s story on the condition of anonymity.
She fired all five bullets at Slater, which hit him in the face and neck. “The guy’s face down, crying,” the sheriff said. Slater remained conscious, while the woman told him to stay down, or else she’d shoot again. Though she had emptied her chamber, Slater believed the mother and she ran to a neighbors house to alert the authorities.
Slater attempted to escape, but didn’t get far before authorities caught up to him. He asked them to help him, because he believed he was dying. “When you got five bullets in you, it makes you kind of disoriented,” Chapman remarked.
Slater is currently at a hospital, and is expected to survive. He is a recently released convict, and has multiple arrests dating back to 2008.
The woman’s husband remarked “My wife’s a hero,” continuing, “She protected her kids. She did what she was supposed to do.”
“That mother’s instinct kicked in,” Chapman marveled. “You go after a mother’s kids and she’ll find herself capable of doing things she never thought she was capable of.”