Janet Kim

KING-TV, Seattle

EDMONDS, Wash. — A 33-year-old mother of three woke up Thanksgiving morning to find a man breaking into her house, so she shot him in the abdomen after calling 911 to report the disturbance.

A 22-year-old man was pounding on her door at about 3 a.m. PT Thursday, police said. He forced the door open, and the woman struggled with him to get the door closed.

When she realized that he was too strong for her, she fired one shot, said Detective Sgt. Bob Barker of the Edmonds Police Department. Edmonds is about 15 miles north of Seattle.

"There were kids in the house, so she was protecting herself. And she was scared, and so she was doing what she could to protect her family," Barker said. The woman is not being identified because she is the victim of a home invasion.

When police arrived, they found the suspect outside the house with a single gunshot wound. Police placed the man in custody and administered emergency first aid.

Medics took the man, whose name has not been released, to a local hospital. Detectives said Friday that he had been drinking.

"One of the theories the detectives are looking into is the possibility of the suspect being at the wrong house," Edmonds police spokesman Mark Marsh told MyEdmondsNews.com.

Police also are looking into reports that the suspect may have known a previous tenant at the home, which is a rental, or one nearby. His condition was not immediately known but is expected to survive.