A 77-year-old woman in Baker County, Florida, used a firearm to fend off an early-morning attack by a man, and though local police haven't said what the motive for that attack might have been, the "preliminary investigation indicates that the woman acted in self-defense during the incident."
The incident happened around 4:30 Monday morning in the parking lot of a veterinary clinic. When I ran across this incident, I was a little confused about why anyone would be in that location at that time of day, but according to Baker County Undersheriff Randy Crews, the woman is "well-known to deputies, and is known to feed stray cats, including some next door to the veterinarian hospital at a car wash."
That explains what she was doing there, but what about 57-year-old Alvin Tisdale, who was shot by the armed citizen?
Tisdale, Crews said, lived in the area and was apparently attempting to rob or kidnap the woman when he forced her into her vehicle. Crews said the woman then grabbed her gun and shot him.
Tisdale was taken to UF Health Jacksonville, where he died from his injuries.
Authorities haven't released the woman's name, and there's no indication at this point that she and Tisdale knew one another. The sheriff's office says she called 911 herself after the shooting and has been cooperative with investigators.
We also don't know whether Tisdale was armed. Based on what authorities have said so far, though, that question doesn't seem particularly important to the question of whether she acted in self-defense. A 77-year-old woman doesn't have to wait for a younger man who's allegedly trying to rob or kidnap her to pull a weapon before she's reasonably concerned that she's in danger of death or serious bodily harm.
Imagine the alternatives available to her if she didn't have a gun. She's already been forced into her vehicle. She's facing a man who's much younger than she is. Running away apparently isn't an option at that point, and neither is simply hoping that whatever Tisdale allegedly intended to do wouldn't result in her being seriously injured or killed.
Thankfully, because she had the foresight to carry a firearm, either on her person or in her vehicle, she had another option.
There's still plenty we don't know about what happened in that parking lot, and the Baker County Sheriff's Office says its investigation remains ongoing. Based on what authorities have disclosed so far, however, this looks like a straightforward case of armed self-defense.
Gun control advocates love to talk about firearms as a public-health threat, but never seem to acknowledge the lives that can be saved when the right person has access to one at the moment it's needed most. We don't know what would have happened to this woman if she'd been unarmed when Tisdale allegedly forced her into her vehicle at 4:30 in the morning, but I think we can all agree that he probably wasn't going to drive her to Denny's to share a Moons Over My Hammy.
At 77 years old, this armed citizen couldn't count on being stronger or faster than the man who allegedly forced her into her vehicle. She did have the means to defend herself, though, and that appears to have been the difference between being abducted by Tisdale and making it home safely.
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