Louise Howard may be 86-years-old but that doesn’t mean she’s too old to defend herself against a home intruder.

Howard says she’s been the victim of theft “many times before” and had had enough. So when a young woman broke into her home on Friday,  she was armed and ready.

“I was in shock. I didn’t know what she was going to do to me!” she said in an interview with WCYB.com.

Even though Howard had grabbed her gun, a struggle ensued between the two.

“I already had my gun in my hand, and I wouldn’t turn it loose for anything,” she explained.

Howard’s hands are proof she wasn’t letting go.

“She stuck a fingernail in there,” said Howard. “She moved her hands sort of released me a bit. I moved over like that, and I was going to shoot her in the stomach, but she took her knee and hit my elbow.”

The bullet ended up inside the wall where it still hides.

Sheriff Ronnie Lawson told us Howard was in her rights to use her gun for protection.

Although the suspect did manage to escape with Howard’s purse, which had some valuables in it, she is OK.

“I was more scared for my cat than I was for me, because I guess I’d give my life that cat I love him so,” she said.