A 71-year-old woman was able to fight off a man who tried to steal her car on Sunday.
Janet Willis told a reporter a man entered her store around 5 a.m. and demanded she give him the keys to her car. "He said, ‘I want your car,’ I said, ‘so do I,’" she told the Morgan County Citizen.
Instead of handing over her keys Willis pressed a panic button under her counter. Unfortunately the assailant saw her press the button and became agitated. He then threatened to kill her.
When the man became distracted by a customer Willis was able to grab her 9mm handgun. "When he turned around I said ‘I’ll blow your guts all over this store,’" she told the paper. "Then I led him out."
She kept her gun pointed at the attempted robber as he ran out and got into a car he had apparently stolen at another point. That car had a flat tire and the sparks created by driving on the rim caused the stolen car to be set ablaze. Shortly thereafter the suspect, 21-year-old Prince William Dennis, was arrested by police.
"I admire her for doing what she did to thwart the robbery," Captain Chris Bish of the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office said of Willis. "I’m grateful for the outcome."
Willis said this was not the first time she had defended herself with a firearm. Three decades ago a man had threatened her life but she was armed with her Colt .45. "I asked him, do you want this (the pistol) or do you want the door," she said to the publication. "He chose the door."