A pregnant woman is being praised for saving the lives of her husband and daughter after she used an AR-15 to kill a violent home intruder.
The incident happened last Wednesday, October 30, at approximately 9pm, when two masked men armed with guns entered the King family’s home in Lithia, Florida.
The men used their guns to pistol-whip the woman’s husband, Jeremy King, while violently grabbing their 11-year-old daughter in the process.
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King told Bay News 9 he feared for his family’s life after the ‘heavily hooded and masked’ men grabbed his daughter and assaulted him.
He explained that the situation became ‘real violent, real fast’ after his claims that he had ‘nothing’ to give them fell on deaf ears, with the men reportedly demanding King ‘give [them] everything [he’s] got’.
Despite repeating that he had no money for them, the father said one of the men started pistol-whipping him while another kicked him repeatedly in the head.
His eight months pregnant wife was in the bedroom at the time and looked out to see what was happening. When she realised her family was in danger, she grabbed the weapon from inside the room.
King explained what happened next:
When [the intruder] came toward the back door in her line of sight, she clipped him. He made it from my back door to roughly 200 feet out in the front ditch before the AR did its thing.
Police said they found the man’s dead body lying in a ditch nearby. The second suspect is still on the loose.
King said he took a ‘severe beating’, having suffered a fractured eye socket, fractured sinus cavity, a concussion, he received three staples in his head and 20 stitches.
He said the reason he’s still alive is because of his wife’s quick-thinking actions, stating: ‘[Those] guys came in with two normal pistols and my AR stopped it. [My wife] evened the playing field and kept them from killing me’.
The sheriff’s office added that the firearm was in the home legally.
Anyone with any information on the incident or the burglar’s whereabouts is urged to contact the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office on 813-247-8200.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).