The odds of a 69-year old woman being able to fight off an intruder half her age are pretty slim, but give that older woman a gun for self-defense and all of a sudden her chances of survival look a lot better.

That was the case in Orange County, Florida this past weekend when Virginia Morrison was shocked to discover a stranger in her home. According to authorities, 38-year old Ezequiel Rosario-Torres was a stranger to Morrison, and they’re still not sure why he decided to enter her house, but Morrison says she was determined to protect herself.

“Something wasn’t right with the man,” she said, adding that he didn’t say a word. “He had a blank look on his face.”

She said she thought her fiance was outside, so the door to the house was unlocked.

Morrison said the stranger stepped inside so she asked him who he was and what he wanted, but he did not respond.

“I said, ‘I’m getting my damn gun.’ So I went to my bedroom and got my gun and I went out the back door and I came to the fence and he sees me and he starts toward me,” Morrison said. “I fired a shot above him, then said, ‘Back off, dude. I’ll shoot you.’ And he kept coming toward me, so I shot him.”

Morrison said it was the first time she’s ever used her gun.

“Keep your doors locked. Anybody can walk into your house now,” she said. “I killed a man. I didn’t intend to do that. I’m trying to protect me and (my fiance).

I’m sure that Morrison didn’t wake up Sunday morning hoping that would be the day she would be in such fear for her life that she had to use deadly force to protect herself. Most gun owners go through their whole lives without ever having to pull the trigger in self-defense and are perfectly fine with that outcome. I don’t want to use my gun to protect myself anymore than I want to use the fire extinguisher in my kitchen to stop my house from burning down, but if I’m ever in either of those situations I’ll be glad that I have the tools I need to hopefully ensure the safety of myself and my family.

While Virginia Morrison says she doesn’t know the man who entered her home, that wasn’t the case for a Wyoming woman who also shot an intruder this weekend. In that case, the woman says her ex-boyfriend broke into her home and assaulted her current partner.

Deputies arrived to find a 24-year-old man with a single gunshot wound. An investigation showed evidence that the man who’d been shot forced entry into the woman’s home by breaking into a secured front door and physically attacked another man inside the home.

The woman reportedly told police she believed the man she shot (her ex-boyfriend) was trying to kill her current boyfriend. She retrieved a handgun and felt she didn’t have any other choice but to use deadly force to stop the attack and protect herself and the other man.

“All evidence and initial findings, at this time, support the female’s claim of self-defense,” the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office said.

At last report the intruder was alive, though suffering from “serious injuries.” The woman and her current boyfriend were thankfully unharmed.

Both of these incidents could have been avoided if the suspects in question had simply stayed out of other people’s homes. Play stupid games with the lives of others, however, and you’re likely to win stupid prizes like a trip to the hospital, or even a morgue.