Some crimes are so disgusting that we should all be able to get together on the fact that they’re evil. Child rapists fall into that category. Even the vilest criminal in prison has no use for this kind of scum, and they take delight in making prison a “special” experience for these individuals (I can’t think of them as “people”).

However, that won’t be necessary for one pedophile who had a close encounter with a shotgun after his victim’s mother caught him in the act.

A notorious pedophile has been found dead by police after he was shot dead during the attempted rape of a 12-year old girl at a property in Morgantown, West Virginia. The 42-year-old mother of the girl told investigators that she woke in the early hours of the morning after hearing a commotion in her daughters room. She grabbed a shotgun from her closet and rushed to her daughter’s room, where she was confronted by the sight of an unidentified man attempting struggling with her daughter. Startled, the man turned around to face the mother, at which point she fired directly into his face, blowing off most of his head. The rapist – a 53 year old sex offender known to police for a series of crimes on young victims – died instantly.

The mother then took her child and headed for the nearby police station, where she made her statement to police. When sheriff’s deputies arrived, they found the man dead, inside the home.

They have opted not to release any names at this time, which is fine. We don’t need to know the names.

What is important, however, is that West Virginia is a Castle Doctrine state, so the mother shouldn’t have to worry about legal troubles. Laws like that are intended to protect people who defend hearth and home, and that’s all this mother was doing.

Well, that and putting a little chlorine in the gene pool.

Honestly, though, I feel awful for both the mother and the child. Taking a human life can have lifelong repercussions, even if the legal system is on your side. It’s something that not everyone deals with well. Then couple in the trauma that the child experienced before the shooting, and any trauma as the result of having watched said shooting, and I suspect we’re going to see folks who could use a little help.

There’s nothing wrong with that, either.

At least there’s one little girl who will never have to feel unsafe with mom around. Rudyard Kipling once wrote, “For the female of the species is more deadly than the male,” and he wasn’t wrong. While men have traditionally been the warriors, a woman protecting her child is a special kind of fierce. This runs across all species.

In this case, Mama did what she had to do and ended a threat to her little girl.

But also, in this case, Mama made the world a little safer for all the other little girls out there.