Mom Determined To Protect Her Three Kids Thwarts Terrifying Home Invasion

ANDERSON, SC — A startled South Carolina mom had to use a gun to stop a stranger after he kicked in her door before dawn — and the terrifying incident was all caught on surveillance camera.

At around 6 A.M. on November 1, Ashley Jones heard someone banging on her front door. When she looked out the window she didn't see anyone. Nervous, she asked who was there. Nobody answered, but she could hear voices.

Rather than take any chances, she called 911 and headed back upstairs to grab her gun. When she returned, she was startled to see a man in a red shirt knocking on a window.

"He was like, 'This is my house, let me in. I'm not going to hurt you' kind of thing," Jones said. "And I was like, 'What do you want? ... I have a gun. I will shoot you. Do not come in my house.'"

Undeterred, the stranger, who was with a woman, then tried the locked back door and garage. Jones stood guard on the stairs while her kids slept in the rooms behind her.

“Something just came over me, and I got calm. My heart slowed down and I got focused. I told myself: 'If he comes in here, you can’t let him get past your doorstep. You have three young children to protect,'" Jones recalled.

She was forced to defend her family when the man came back to her front porch.

"Finally, he kicked the door in and tried walking towards the inside, and that's when I shot him," she said. “I would’ve killed him if I had to.”

The man was struck in the shoulder, and he tried to flee with his accomplice, but police officers captured them. The man’s wounds were treated at an area hospital, and authorities are still weighing charges against the suspects.

Jones noted that before the scary incident she wasn’t sure if she wanted a gun in her home, but she’s now glad she bought one and took measures to be a responsible firearm owner, including attending training sessions and storing it safely away from her children.

"If I didn't have a weapon, I wouldn’t have been able to fight him off," Jones said. "Any mother is going to protect her kid any way she can. And that's what I did.”

Read more: FOX Carolina, WSPA