911 Operator advised her to shoot

[twyacht]

She didn't mess around...12g...."The" uber choice of Home Defense,...Lou Dobbs radio show, quoted she had a pistol as back up also, after she tucked the baby in the upstairs bedroom...she did what had to be done.

My heart goes out to her, and her 3 month old..

Mama Bear, was not screwing around... Please fwd. to the Brady Bunch, because THANK GOD SHE HAD A FIREARM!!!!

[WatchManUSA]

She has my vote for Mother of the Year!

[JLawson]

Sarah McKinley is only 18 years old... very young and amazingly strong.  She and her child will be in my prayers.

[Solus]

Her husband and father of her child died just a week ago.

I have to think that her son helped her bear it because  he was a living part of her husband along with being part of herself.

She was protecting her son and her strongest link to her deceased husband.

[Magoo541]

I was thinking about this on the drive home from work today.  At 18 years-old she has lost a husband, defended herself, her child, taken another human's life and learned you can't rely on law enforcement for your safety-she has a HUGE head start on her peers!  Not that many would change places with her. 

If it don't kill ya, it just makes you stronger.  I just hope she doesn't succumb to the nanny-state temptations and waste the costly lessons she has learned.

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

I was thinking about this on the drive home from work today.  At 18 years-old she has lost a husband, defended herself, her child, taken another human's life and learned you can't rely on law enforcement for your safety-she has a HUGE head start on her peers!  Not that many would change places with her. 

If it don't kill ya, it just makes you stronger.  I just hope she doesn't succumb to the nanny-state temptations and waste the costly lessons she has learned.

BS, some times it just f*cks you up really badly.
She has avoided that part, so far.

[Magoo541]

BS, some times it just f*cks you up really badly.
She has avoided that part, so far.

Very true.  She may want to either get some counseling or some training.  I read somewhere that a major cause of PTSD was the lack of planning ahead of time (wife has a childhood friend, LEO, that shot & killed a guy a few years ago and he's still struggling with the what if's) , too late for that, but it would seem that some training and planning afterword would be helpful.

I dunno, just wish I could wave my magic wand and make it better for her.

[sanjuancb]

I saw this on the news today. I am glad that it turned out the way it did. I understand that her asking the operator if she could shoot him is probably a good practice legally, but it frustrates me that our culture is such that she felt the need to ask someone if she could defend herself. How absurd is that?

[Solus]

Very true.  She may want to either get some counseling or some training.  I read somewhere that a major cause of PTSD was the lack of planning ahead of time (wife has a childhood friend, LEO, that shot & killed a guy a few years ago and he's still struggling with the what if's) , too late for that, but it would seem that some training and planning afterword would be helpful.

I dunno, just wish I could wave my magic wand and make it better for her.

I've said this in another thread.   The time to evaluate your response to a threat that might require lethal force and result in your killing someone needs to be done well in advance of the event.....both for your improved response to the threat and for your well being afterwards.  

This woman seems to have made her choices ahead of time...maybe only a few minutes ahead of time, but she acted as if she had a it all well planned out....she did have quite a while for it before she needed to take action.

She put her baby in as safe a place as she could, locked in a room with her, prepared herself with a shotgun and a pistol both.  That shows some thought about backup plans and acknowledgement that it might be a long fight.  She called 911....no doubt to get any police support that might arrive...which it did not...but also to check on her legal rights in the situation...sure sounds like she was into evaluating all aspects of this.

The 911 operator didn't directly tell her to shoot, instead the operator said "I cannot advise you to shoot, but do do what ever you need to do to protect your baby.

That amount of moral, if not legal, support should go a long way towards helping her deal with the aftermath.

I think she is one strong lady and will do ok.

[Paraguy]

Here is the official word that no legal action will be taken against her, it was clearly self-defense. 

BLANCHARD, Okla. (AP) — Authorities don't plan to file charges against an Oklahoma woman who fatally shot a New Year's Eve intruder at her house while she had a 911 dispatcher on the phone, but the intruder's alleged accomplice has been charged in the death.

A 911 tape released to Oklahoma City media outlets Wednesday reveals that 18-year-old Sarah McKinley asked a Grady County dispatcher for permission to shoot the intruder. McKinley's 3-month-old son was with her when she shot Justin Shane Martin, 24, at her Blanchard mobile home.

"I've got two guns in my hand. Is it OK to shoot him if he comes in this door?" McKinley asked the dispatcher.

"Well, you have to do whatever you can do to protect yourself," the dispatcher is heard telling McKinley. "I can't tell you that you can do that, but you have to do what you have to do to protect your baby."

Oklahoma law allows the use of deadly force against intruders, and prosecutors said McKinley clearly acted in self-defense. According to court documents, Martin was holding a knife when he died.

"Our initial review of the case doesn't indicate she violated the law in any way," Assistant District Attorney James Walters told The Oklahoman newspaper.

However, prosecutors have charged his alleged accomplice, 29-year-old Dustin Louis Stewart, with first-degree murder. According to authorities, Stewart was with Martin but ran away from McKinley's home after hearing the gunshots.

"When you're engaged in a crime such as first-degree burglary and a death results from the events of that crime, you're subject to prosecution for it," Walters said.

Stewart was arraigned Wednesday and was being held in the Grady County jail. A bond hearing was set for Thursday. His attorney, Stephen Buzin, did not immediately respond to a message left at his office Wednesday night.

According to court documents, Martin and Stewart might have been looking for prescription drugs. McKinley said it took the men about 20 minutes to get through her door, which she had barricaded with a couch.

She said her husband had died about a week earlier — on Christmas Day — after being hospitalized with complications from lung cancer earlier that month.