A few weeks ago, two suspects broke into a series of homes in Union County, Illinois. Little did they know that one of the homes they broke into belonged to the county’s Deputy Sheriff and his wife.

The Deputy Sheriff’s wife, Candee Wilhelm, was taking a shower when she heard the couple’s dogs barking and realized one of the doors was wide open. She quickly got out of the shower and saw one of the men in the laundry room. Wilhelm grabbed a gun, her phone and went into her bedroom.

“If that doorknob had just jiggled, I was going to shoot through the door and that’s what I had been prepared to do. Thankfully I didn’t have to do that,” Wilhelm told WSOC.

By the time deputies arrived, the two suspects had fled the scene. The manhunt for the suspects led to an overnight search that also put New Town Elementary School on lockdown for hours.

Police eventually located one of the suspects who was considered ‘armed and dangerous’. 26-year-old Dejun Booker, was arrested and booked in Jackson County, Illinois. He was charged with two counts of armed violence and one count of burglary. His bail was set at $500,000.

According to investigators, the Deputy Sheriff’s service handgun was stolen during the robbery. That gun was later recovered.

Wilhelm’s first husband, David, was a federal agent who was shot and killed by Brian Nichols in 2005. Since then, Wilhelm has been vigilant about locking doors and carrying her phone with her at all times.