Both Snohomish County and the City of Edmonds prosecutors have confirmed that no charges will be filed in the case of an Edmonds woman who shot a suspected intruder in the early hours of Thanksgiving morning 2014.
According to Edmonds police, a 33-year-old Edmonds woman was awakened at approximately 3:15 a.m. Thanksgiving morning to the sound of someone pounding on the front door. Home with her husband and children at the time, the woman armed herself and went to the front door to find the suspect trying to force his way into their home.
She immediately called 911, after which she struggled with the intruder, trying to prevent him from entering the house. “She realized that she could not continue to hold him out and as the suspect forced his way inside the house she fired one shot and struck the suspect in the abdomen,” Edmonds police spokesperson Mark Marsh said in a news release issued Thanksgiving morning.
Upon arriving at the house, officers took the wounded suspect into custody, provided him with first aid, and transported him to Harborview Medical Center for treatment of the gunshot wound.
A subsequent investigation by detectives indicated that the 22-year-old suspect was intoxicated at the time and thought he was at a different house.
Those inside the house at the time of the incident included the woman’s husband, their children — ages 14, 10 and 5 — and a 14-year-old friend of the eldest child.
— By Larry Vogel
Why did it take 5 months for prosecutors to come to this decision? The guy forced his way in. Being drunk does not excuse his using force to gain entry. Even the Detectives quickly realized the guy was solely in the wrong.
This is becoming a common method used by some prosecutors to ‘punish’ people who justifiably defend themselves with guns. By making them ‘sweat it out’ waiting for a decision on whether they’ll be charged with a crime or not.