A man investigating noises in his kitchen came face to face with a naked woman — who is accused of smacking him in the head with a pan, Virginia deputies say. He then shot her in the leg, the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
It happened Feb. 26 at a rural home in Austinville, and the man and woman did not suffer life-threatening wounds during the ordeal, officials said. Austinville is in western Virginia, about 120 miles north of Charlotte, North Carolina.
“During the course of the investigation, deputies determined that the shooting was the result of a breaking and entering,” the sheriff’s office said.
“The homeowner, who heard a noise at the rear area of the home, went to the kitchen and observed an unclothed female, who was unknown to the homeowner, coming into the rear door at which time (she) began hitting the homeowner with a cast iron fry pan in the head and hand.”
The homeowner said he was able to force the woman back out the door and lock it, officials said. However, she stayed on his porch, “turning all the electrical breakers off,” beating on his window and threatening to kill him, according to deputies.
“The female then began beating on the same door in which she had already made entry previously, at which time the homeowner discharged his firearm, striking the female in the lower leg area,” the sheriff’s office said.
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Deputies said they arrived to find the 35-year-old Austinville woman with a gunshot wound to the leg.
She was taken to a hospital for medical care, then discharged into the custody of the sheriff’s office.
Details of the homeowner’s injuries and his identity were not released. The woman faces charges of “felony breaking and entering an occupied home while armed with a deadly weapon, assault and battery, and damage property,” officials said.
“No charges will be filed on the homeowner, after consulting with the Carroll County Commonwealth Attorney Roger Brooks,” the sheriff’s office said. “The shooting was justified as self-defense.”
