Why Every Woman Should Carry a Gun

http://www.knbc.com/news/14842132/detail.html?dl=mainclick

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. -- A female homeowner who shot a male intruder in her back yard in October 2006 spoke to KNBC's Laurel Erickson on Wednesday, one day after a jury found the man guilty of all charges.

Nadine Teter shot Michael Lugo twice in the stomach and once in the leg after he broke into her Canyon Country home.

Lugo broke the lock on Teter's door and barged in. She fled to the back yard with her gun, according to police.

"He was coming at me. He was yelling. I shot him to stop him," Teter said. "He went down. He got back up. Came back at me. I shot him again. I shot him again, and he turned around and jumped back over the fence. (He) disappeared."

Teter testified against Lugo and his mother, Cynthia Brandon, who drove the getaway car during the Oct. 18, 2006, attack. Both were convicted Tuesday.

While Teter talked to law enforcement that night, Brandon flagged down a deputy heading to Teter. She told him her son was bleeding to death.

"It was terrifying, absolutely terrifying," Teter said.

"Did you have any second thoughts about testifying against him out of fear for yourself?" Erickson asked.


"A little bit, but I knew I had to do it. We needed to get him locked up, put away," Teter said.

Teter said she thinks that every woman should carry a gun.

"Never in a million years, did I think I would use (the gun) -- never. And whatever higher power, whatever gave me the strength to pull that trigger ... You're looking at him or me. My life or his life. I was not going to get raped. I was not going to get murdered. There was no way -- and I didn't," Teter said.

Teter said she was grateful to all the people who helped convict Lugo.

"You know, for something as horrible as this to happen, it could not have ended up any better," Teter said.

Lugo and his mother face sentencing on Feb. 29.