A woman shot a man after he strangled her to the ground and punched another man with brass knuckles in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Steven Paul Frank, 36, was arrested after showing up uninvited to his girlfriend’s home and assaulted her and another. In an attempt to warn the boyfriend off, she fired a warning shot into the air.
Not taking the gun shot as a threat, Frank walked aggressively toward her causing her to fire her gun again, this time hitting him in the leg.
According to police, Frank then walked back to his vehicle, retrieved a rifle, and fired several shots.
Police arrested the man and brought him to the hospital where he could be treated for his non life-threatening gun shot wound to the leg, and remains in jail with a $180,000 bond.
It is also reported that Frank is a felon and barred from owning a firearm.
It is unclear at this time if Frank shot at the house, a person, or just into the air himself. It’s also unclear why he attacked, but we can make assumptions since there was another man in the home.
Nothing else is known about the woman and her gun, but I bet she’s glad she had it to defend her life with.
Analysis:
This is a good story for us to learn from on many counts. We always say that firing a warning shot is not a good idea because a determined attacker will attack regardless. If you feel as though your life is threatened in such a way that you need to pull your gun out to begin with, you must be both willing and able to stop the threat with that gun.
I didn’t say anything about killing the man, or wanting to kill the man. In fact, saying that is not good, either. A court could have a field day with you if you ever said on your social media accounts that you’d kill someone. But, that’s a story for another day.
In this case, the boyfriend clearly didn’t think the woman was capable of shooting him–he was wrong, and she eventually did shoot him. However, she shot him in the leg and I’m led to believe that she aimed for the leg, which is not recommended, either.
(Retired PA State Trooper Todd explains more on this on GunnersDen.com, here.)
Shooting to wound may lead others in a court of law to believe that you didn’t actually think your life was in serious danger. If your life wasn’t in danger enough to try to stop the threat appropriately, why did you pull your gun out to begin with?
In this instance he was strangling her and punched another guy with brass knuckles so she won’t likely run into any issues in court unless she wasn’t legally allowed to have the gun.
So, in conclusion, rarely is it a good idea to fire off a warning shot or shoot to wound. If you feel as though your life is in danger to the point where you pull your gun out of your holster, you must be able to stop the threat. If that person dies as a result, that’s their prize for playing a stupid ass game.