An Iowa mother fended off two people who attempted to kidnap her son by drawing her gun, according to reports.
KDSM reported that suspects Michael Ernest Ross, 43, and Laurie Lynn Potter, 57, repeatedly walked in front of the Hubbell Tower Apartments door on Jan. 5.
Apartment manager Shay Lindberg, whose son was at her side, later opened the door to ask Ross and Potter if there was a problem. That’s when one of the duo attempted to take the child, not knowing that Lindberg was armed.
“It certainly looks like the big turning point here, the pivotal piece to keeping her child safe was the fact that she was lawfully-armed with a handgun, and she produced it and told them ‘let go of my kid,’” Sergeant Paul Parizek of the Des Moines Police Department told KDSM.
Lindberg then called Will Hunter at Per Mar Security Services, who was able to identify Potter from the details given. When questioned about the incident on Sunday night, the police did not immediately respond.
Polk County Jail records show that Potter and Ross were arrested on Jan. 5 and charged with felony child stealing.
Similarly, a mother in Louisiana shot and killed a suspected intruder on Jan. 8. Deputies reportedly responded to reports of shots fired at a Hammond residence on Klein Road, where a mother of two had just shot an armed intruder.
“During the course of the investigation, detectives were able to determine the suspect, later identified as 51 year old Robert Rheams of Hammond, was armed with a shovel and a lug wrench when he forced entry into the home of the victim and her two young children,” the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office wrote in its report.
The report stated that a physical altercation took place between Rheams and the homeowner, which led to the mother shooting Rheams. He was later pronounced deceased on scene by the Tangipahoa Parish Coroner’s Office.
No arrests were made in the investigation, and the homeowner was ruled to be exercising her second amendment rights to protect herself and her children from a violent home invasion.
