Newsweek – 5 Dec 18 Woman shoots dead escaped prisoner who broke into her home Bruce McLaughlin Jr. killed around 20 minutes after escaping from the Pickens County Prison with another inmate.

A South Carolina woman has been praised as a hero for shooting dead an escaped prisoner who broke into her home after kicking in her back door.

Bruce McLaughlin Jr., 30, was still wearing his orange jumpsuit when he was shot by the woman after he entered her home in Pickens at around 3 a.m. on December 4.

McLaughlin had escaped from the Pickens County Prison along with fellow inmate Timothy Cleveland Dill at around 2:40 a.m. after attacking two detention officers in what police believe was a premeditated plan.

Pickens County Sheriff Rick Clark said police received a 911 call around 20 minutes after the breakout to a report that one of the inmates had been spotted. Deputies responded within four minutes and captured Dill.

Around the same time, deputies received another 911 call from a homeowner who informed them she had shot an intruder who had broken into her home and armed himself with a foot-long metal sharpening tool which he took from the kitchen.

The woman, who had undergone firearm training and has a license to carry a concealed weapon, shot McLaughlin in the head. He was airlifted to Greenville Memorial Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

“This lady took the time to get a [concealed weapons permit] and set herself up to protect herself, and not be harmed, raped, or killed,” Clark said in a press conference, reports CBS News.