Phibbie Underwood, a 72-year-old woman on oxygen, was home alone when she heard the front door rattle, saw a shadow on the front porch and then heard a loud banging on the window. Underwood retrieved a gun she kept in her bedroom and returned to find a 26-year-old man who had broken the window and gained entry to her home. Underwood ordered the man to get out of her home and leave her alone. Instead the man walked into another room, then walked back toward her. Underwood warned the man to stop and when he didn't she pulled the trigger. The gun misfired, So Underwood fired again and missed. The man got down on the floor to avoid being shot. Underwood held the man there until police arrived. (Tribune Chronicle, Youngstown, OH, 3/29/13)
A father eating with his family at Burger King was able to defeat an armed robber by using his firearm. It was 1 p.m. when a would be robber walked into Burger King, flashed his gun at one of the diners and demanded the diner fork over money and valuables, Miami police said in a CBS report. The robber was exiting when the father, who feared for his and his family's lives, CBS said, took out his gun and shot the suspect in the leg. The suspect then fled, and was later found by police. He was taken to the hospital for treatment and charged with three counts of armed robbery, according to police. (Washington Times, Miami, FL, 4/8/13)
From The Armed Citizen Archives
August 1971: A young mother who killed a 37-year-old felon after he forced his way into her home was cleared of manslaughter charges by District Court Judge Robert Simms in Tulsa, Okla. Mrs. Keith Boyce, alone with her nine-month-old baby in a home that had been burglarized twice before, shot the intruder with a .22 pistol while holding her baby in her other arm. Judge Simms approved. "If more people did this," he said, "we would have less of the problem we have in this country." The slain man had a 20-year record of major crime, and was free on bond on a burglary charge when shot. (American Rifleman)