Dayton CHL-holder defends herself with gun during early morning home invasion

The Dayton Daily News is reporting that a woman who has been targeted by criminals at least five times in 11 years fatally shot a man she said broke into her home Wednesday morning, the second intruder she has hit with gunfire in about two years.

From the article:

The 46-year-old woman, who lives in the 200 block of Richmond Avenue, told officers the man smashed a window and entered the second floor of her Five Oaks neighborhood home. The woman’s brother said the intruder initially broke a first-floor window but could not get inside because of metal security bars installed after a burglary last month.

The same female victim, whose name police did not release, also shot and wounded a juvenile who kicked in her back door in June 2013, according to police reports and her brother, 54-year-old Efrim Goldsmith.

Dayton police said the initial evidence indicates the woman acted in self-defense.

The deceased was identified as 22-year-old DeBrandon Jurrod Dickerson, who is from Detroit, and who has only been in the Dayton area for about a week, officials said. Police said they do not believe Dickerson was acting alone.

According to the article, the victim initially hid in the bathroom but opened fire when the intruder came toward her. The report says the injured suspect fled out the window, jumped from the roof and ran down the street, leaving behind a trail of blood. Dickerson was found dead nearby with a gunshot wound to the chest.

The article goes on to say the metal bars were installed on the first-floor windows just weeks ago, after a late August burglary in which someone pried open the rear kitchen window and disabled an alarm by knocking it off the wall. The thief or thieves stole a safe, 10 pairs of shoes and two flat-screen televisions.

The victim's brother told the DDN that his sister has a concealed handgun license-holder, and that she also had to shoot a young intruder during a break-in a couple of years ago.

On the evening of June 24, 2013, the woman told police she heard people knocking on her front and back door at the same time and looked out a window and saw two juveniles she did not recognize, a report states.

The teens then kicked in the back door, and she fired one shot from a .38 special Ruger, striking one intruder in the arm, the report states.

The juveniles fled but the injured one showed up at a local hospital in search of medical treatment. Police identified both suspects, who were charged with burglary.

Police reports show someone broke into her garage in 2008. In 2004, she contacted police after someone broke into her home and stole an array of electronics.

In its coverage of the home invasion, WDTN (Dayton NBC) quotes Dayton Detective Richard Blommel as saying “You have a right to protect yourself. If you fear for the safety of yourself or your family, living in America, you have the right to protect yourself.”

Under Ohio's Castle Doctrine law, if someone unlawfully enters or attempts to enter an occupied home or temporary habitation, or occupied car, citizens have an initial presumption that they may act in self defense, and will not be second-guessed by the State.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary, BFA PAC Vice Chairman, and an NRA-certified firearms instructor. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website.