Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Facing a criminal is terrifying for anyone, but especially so when one’s children are present. Perhaps scariest of all, however, is the case of expectant mothers: The common protective measures of putting the child in a locked room or telling him or her to hide aren’t available; standing in between the child and the attacker is impossible; and running away can be both difficult and dangerous. Fortunately, firearms prove to be the great equalizer even for those in a delicate condition, as the following moms-to-be would surely attest.



A pregnant woman was inside her home in Palmview, Texas, when a pair of burglars approached the house. One thief went to the front door and rang the doorbell, while the other moved to a back door. After spotting the burglars, the homeowner retrieved a handgun and the telephone, and called the police. Eventually the woman fired at the intruders, causing them to flee. The thieves were captured a short time later after police cornered them in a nearby home. Following the incident, the homeowner told a reporter that she had initially been against her husband purchasing the handgun she used to defend herself, but noted that after the shooting she told him, “thank you for doing that.” (KGBT, Harlingen, Texas, 09/09/2013)



The screams of his pregnant wife—a horrible sound—woke Roger Gilchrist from a dead sleep. He grabbed his gun and ran to the garage, where he discovered that his wife had driven in and stumbled upon a gun-wielding burglar. "Under the circumstances, with him having a gun and standing next to my pregnant wife, I'm not going to wait and see what happens—I'm going to fire," Gilchrist said. Police say the burglar shot first and Gilchrist returned fire, injuring the intruder. The suspect fled, but was apprehended shortly thereafter. "If [my husband] didn't have that gun, we would've both been dead," said Gilchrist's wife. (Daily Press, Victorville, Calif., 9/26/2007)



Laycee Lowe, a pregnant 17-year-old, was at home alone in Glendale, Ariz., when she noticed a prowler outside the home. After climbing a fence and peering into windows, the criminal attempted to get into the home through a dog door. Lowe responded to the threat by retrieving a gun and firing it into the dog door, which caused the intruder to flee. Following the incident, Julio Lowe, Laycee’s father, praised his daughter’s actions, stating, “She’s just real brave and slick. She handled it real well.” Julio also noted that there had been a suspicious incident at his home involving a prowler a few days earlier, prompting him to teach his daughter how to properly use a firearm. (KPHO, Phoenix, Ariz., 02/06/2012)



A pregnant San Antonio woman was preparing to give her 18-month-old child a nighttime bath when she heard strange noises and saw an unfamiliar man walking around outside her house. She immediately called her husband to come home. Arriving home, he grabbed his gun after hearing the noises from the side of the house and confronted the intruder, who had been drinking prior to the break-in, in the kitchen. The homeowner shot the intruder in the chest. Police confirm that the intruder will likely face charges of burglary once he is released from the hospital. (WOAI, San Antonio, Texas, 7/09/2008)



A pregnant woman was lying on the couch in her home when she heard the mini-blinds on her kitchen door rustle. Police say the woman, whose 1- and 3-year-old children were also in the home, got up to investigate and found a man trying to break in. When she spotted him, he ran around the corner of the duplex to the front door and tried to kick it in. The woman warned the prowler that she had a gun. When he replied that he also had a gun, she shot at him and he returned fire. The intruder was hit in the chest and died on the way to the hospital. No one else was injured. (The Fayetteville Observer, Fayetteville, N.C., 03/15/2006)



When a youth allegedly pulled a knife on two women one of whom was pregnant in Jamestown, N.Y., and threatened to cut them, neighbor Jeffery Moore became alarmed and decided to act. After going outside his house to investigate the ruckus, Moore returned to his house, instructed his wife to call police and retrieved his licensed handgun. Moore reported that when he went back outside he heard the youth say, "I am going to cut you like a pig. I'm going to slice you up." He replied, "Step away ... I have a gun. Get down on your knees and keep your hands where I can see them." Police arrived within a minute to find the neutralized attacker. "If I had not intervened, I don't know if they would have come out of this unscathed," said Moore regarding the women. (The Post-Journal, Jamestown, N.Y., 11/10/2000)



A pregnant Weverton, Md., woman was washing the dishes when she heard a doorknob rattling. She saw a ski-masked man trying to break in, and she raced to a bedroom to grab her husband's revolver. While she was on the phone to police, the prowler broke out a kitchen window to gain entry. The 23-year-old woman fired a shot into the floor; the man fled. (The Morning Herald, Hagerstown, Md., 11/2/1989)