SandyMaloneLimestone County, TX – A former police officer used her handgun to stand her ground when a man armed with a shovel kicked in her front door and charged at her on Tuesday.
Laura Williams, who was an officer for 10 years, told police the incident began when she woke up to her doorbell ringing on May 1, KWTX reported.
Williams answered the door to find 47-year-old Allen Tompkins standing there with a shovel.
“I went to the door and just kind of opened it and there was an older man standing at my front door with a shovel and he asked for a lady’s name and I said, ‘There’s no one here by that name. I’m sorry. You’re at the wrong house. She doesn’t live here.’” Williams told KWTX.
She told police the man left, but she had a gut feeling it wasn’t over when she looked out her window and saw the man was still in her yard.
“I looked out and he was standing at the opening of the woods with a shovel still in his hand and he kept looking back and looking, I said, ‘No this is not going to go down like this,” Williams said.
Her first instinct was to protect her daughter, so she ran and woke up 17-year-old Hannah and told her to get their dogs and go into her parents’ bedroom, where the guns were kept, the mother explained.
“No sooner did we get to the bedroom and shut the door, he was kicking in the front door and hitting it with the shovel,” Williams told KWTX.
Williams told police she got her handgun from the bedside table drawer and went to confront the intruder while her daughter called 911.
She said the man charged at her with his shovel.
“I had time to grab the revolver and come out the door. So when he came in the shovel was up on his shoulder, he was headed straight towards us,” Williams said. “I aimed it at him and said, ‘If you take one more step I’ll kill you.’”
She said he stopped in his tracks, mumbled something, and turned to leave. On his way out, he turned back to speak to her.
“He said, ‘Well all y’all need to know is y’all need to leave me the F alone,’ and I said ‘I don’t even know you, get out of my house.‘” Williams said.
She said her daughter was still on the phone with 911 when she returned to the bedroom, and she watched the man walk into the woods with his shovel from the window.
Police arrived about 15 minutes later and were able to locate Tompkins in a nearby trailer park, according to KWTX.
Williams said she had nightmares after the break in, and her daughter was struggling too. She’s afraid the man will return to her home.
“My husband said I’m having nightmares calling Hannah’s name trying to make sure she’s safe. As much as I hate to say I killed somebody, I wished I would have so that I could sleep at night knowing that he’s not going to come back,” she said.
The 17 year old told KWTX she doesn’t remember much more than the adrenaline rush.
“I felt really scared and my adrenaline was pumping so I don’t really remember a lot of it, but I’m not sleeping well at all,” Hannah said.
Tompkins was arrested and charged with burglary of a habitation, and held in the Limestone County jail in lieu of a $20,000 bond.
KWTX reported that authorities were considering additional charges that would bump his bond up by $100,000; however, it won’t happen before Monday.