HollyMatkinMarion, AR – A senior citizen in Arkansas decided to stand her ground when a 19-year-old man broke into her home in the middle of the night on Sunday.
An elderly woman in Marion woke up to her burglar alarm going off, and found an intruder in her home, the Crittenden County Sheriff’s Office said.
Cody Smith, 19, set off the alarm as he forcibly entered the octogenarian’s home, police said.
The victim told police that she told the intruder to leave, but instead, Smith moved toward her in a threatening manner. So she shot him in self-defense, WREG reported.
Smith was dead at the scene when police arrived.
Police confirmed that on Sunday, Oct. 29 at 3:31 a.m., the ADT alarm company received a report of a burglar alarm at the woman’s house.
ADT personnel alerted local law enforcement to a problem after they spoke with the homeowner, who lived alone, and was in her 80’s.
The elderly homeowner told police that she was awakened by her burglar alarm, and that she’d she defended herself by shooting the intruder.
Some of Smith’s friends told Fox 13 that he had been at a Halloween party before the incident, and that he “appeared to be intoxicated when he left Sunday morning.”
The victim’s neighbors speculated about what the man had been up to when he broke into the woman’s house, and expressed concern about their security.
“We heard he was under the influence of something and wrecked his car,” neighbor John Rimmer said.
“At first it was told that he thought he was walking to his house. I didn’t know where his house is. In this neighborhood, I assume,” Rimmer said.
Other neighbors reported having seen a man entering the residence, according to the New York Post.
No other details about the incident have been released. No charges have been filed, and the investigation is ongoing.