An active duty U.S. Army Ranger apparently irate with his wife forced his way into an apartment where he believed she was hiding, despite protests from friends that he was trying to get into the wrong apartment. After trying to kick in the door of the unit, he broke out a front window and crawled inside to the horror of the woman who lived there. She yelled at him to leave, and when he advanced upon  in her bedroom door instead, she fired one fatal shot to defend her life.

Columbus police say they received a call Sunday at 7:19 a.m. about someone trying to break into an apartment in the Armour Landing Apartments on Armour Avenue. Police say the man beat and kicked the door and eventually broke out a front window and crawled into an apartment where he thought his wife had gone to pick up her daughter.

Police say the man was warned by his friend that they were at the wrong apartment and a neighbor also told him he was at the wrong apartment and the neighbor would call 911 if he didn’t leave.

Both the man’s friend and the neighbor phoned 911, but even after the neighbor tried to pull him out of the broken window, the man  persisted and entered the apartment.

Inside the apartment, the victim, hearing the commotion and seeing a stranger inside her apartment, armed herself and yelled at the man to get out of her apartment.

The man refused and advanced into her bedroom where she fired a pistol one time into the subject’s chest.

The woman called 911 for help. EMS and Police were dispatched and arrived at 7:25 a.m. The man was transported to the Medical Center with gunshot wounds where he died a short time later.

It is not known at this time why Christopher Warden felt compelled to force his way into the apartment, but at least one witness thinks that he had “malicious intent” towards his wife. The woman who was forced to shoot Warden in self defense was, to the best we can determine, a complete innocent who did not know Warden or his wife.

I feel a great deal of pity for this woman for having to take a life, but at the same time I am glad that she was armed to defend herself against a highly-trained and very agitated man would could have seriously injured or killed her otherwise.