Woman shoots and kills man who pushed into her motel room demanding money

Congratulations to the so-far unnamed 70 year old woman who successfully defended herself and her friends. Think of the number of law-abiding Americans—it must be hundreds of thousands at least—who would not have been robbed, injured, raped, or murdered over the last 40 years if they had been armed. Browse through the stories on this page and think how differently many of them would have turned out if the victims had been armed. Think of how differently things would have turned out for Ann Pressly if she had been armed when Curtis Lavelle Vance entered her house in Little Rock last October; but she wasn’t armed, and he raped her and beat her to death. See this entry and this about Charles Augusto, the 72 year old store owner in New York City who, two months ago, cooly shot down four black armed robbers who had entered his store and were threatening his employee.

Woman, 70, kills intruder at motel
October 22, 2009
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

A 70-year-old woman who is in town for the All-American Quarter Horse Congress shot and killed a would-be robber last night at a North Side motel, police said.

The shooting occurred about 9:15 p.m. at the Continent Inn, said Columbus Police Sgt. Isaac Bridges. The motel, at 6225 Zumstein Dr., is located at The Continent shopping center, off Rt. 161 near I-71.

Sgt. Eric Pilya of the homicide squad said the woman was in a motel room with four or five others and they’d cracked open the door to get fresh air.

Pilya said a man barged into the room, demanding money from those inside.

Police said the woman grabbed a gun that she had in the room and shot the man, who staggered into the parking lot of the motel and died. His name wasn’t released late last night, pending notification of family.

The woman’s name also wasn’t released. No charges had been filed. Pilya said it’s likely that the case will be presented to a Franklin County grand jury to see whether the woman should be charged.

Meena Patel, a clerk at the Continent Inn, said the shooting occurred in Room 111, which was booked to a man and woman.

Heather and Kevin Kinsley were staying at the Extended StayAmerica Hotel next door. They have returned to Columbus after moving out of state and said they’re surprised at the problems they’ve seen in that area.

“This whole area is not what it used to be,” Mrs. Kinsley said. They said they’ve heard gunshots regularly and there have been a lot of cars broken into.

The annual All-American Quarter Horse Congress is in its third week at the state fairgrounds and ends Sunday. It is the world’s largest single-breed horse show and attracts more than 600,000 people to Columbus each year.

jwoods@dispatch.com

Posted by Lawrence Auster at October 22, 2009 09:26 AM | Send