Okay, so we’re not talking about that South Park. This particular South Park is a neighborhood in Seattle, and while I’m sure it’s full of humble folks without temptation, it’s also developed a bit of a crime problem. Burglaries and other criminal activities have become so common that Seattle police started increased patrols in the neighborhood earlier this summer. As we all know, however, police can’t be everywhere all the time, and there were no officers around when a 41-year-old man allegedly decided to break into a woman’s home in South Park. He was armed with a gun. Fortunately, she had a gun of her own.

A burglary suspect is in critical condition Thursday after a homeowner shot him in the shoulder from the roof of her house in Seattle’s South Park neighborhood, police said.

The shooting happened before 1 a.m. Thursday in the 600 block of Riverside Drive. The homeowner called 911, reporting she had shot an armed man as he tried to break into her home.

Police found the 41-year-old suspect behind the home with a gunshot wound in his shoulder, officials said. They also found a handgun beside him. Investigators believe he opened fire at the house at some point during the burglary.

Two other suspects were caught fleeing the scene when police arrived, and while they haven’t yet been charged with burglary, police say those charges could soon be filed. Authorities also say the home had been burglarized just a few days earlier when the homeowner was away, but so far there’s no word on whether or not the three individuals arrested are suspects in that previous case.

What is crystal clear, however, is the fact that this homeowner would have been an easy target for at least one armed criminal had she not been able to protect and defend herself with a firearm. Increased police patrols didn’t stop the would-be intruder. Washington State’s recently enacted gun control referendum I-1639 didn’t stop the armed criminal from obtaining a gun, or from trying to break into a woman’s home. It took an armed citizen to do that. As anti-gun activists in the Seattle area continue to try and gut the 2nd Amendment rights of residents, local gun owners need to spread the word about self-defense stories like this one. After all, if the opponents of the right to keep and bear arms had their way, only one person in this attempted break-in would have been armed, and it wouldn’t have been the woman protecting herself.