Virginia Morrison, a 70-year-old woman from Central Florida, shot and killed a home invader who would not leave even after she and her partner fired warning shots.
“I didn’t know what he was going to do, but I knew I would protect myself. I’m a fighter. I’m going to defend myself,” Morrison told Fox News.
Fox News reports the incident unfolded during a sunny afternoon in which Ezequiel Rosario-Torres inexplicably walked into the home Morrison shares with her partner in Orange County. The encounter ended with the 38-year-old man suffering a fatal gunshot wound.
Morrison realized that a stranger had silently walked into her house while she was in the kitchen.
Morrison immediately confronted the man by questioning his motives for waltzing into her home, but she says he did not respond and remained silent the entire time. Seeing that the intruder was not armed, Morrison yelled to notify her partner about the situation as she grabbed a broom from the kitchen.
Fox News says the intruder did not care that he was told to leave or that he got hit with a broom. He was able to swat the broom away until Morrison’s partner Charlie arrived with a gun.
Pointing toward the ceiling, Charlie discharged his weapon inside the home as a warning shot. However, the warning did not seem to faze the intruder.
Morrison moved to another section of the house to retrieve her pistol, which she used to give the home invader another warning to leave her home.
By this time, he still showed no intention to leave; he started moving toward Morrison even though her firearm was pointed right at him, according to Fox News.
“He started coming toward me, and I fired a shot above him. ‘Back off, dude!'” Morrison told Fox News. “And he just kept coming toward me. So, I just lowered my gun and shot him.”
Initially, Morrison did not believe she had hit Rosario-Torres, but she noticed the entry wound through a hole in the man’s T-shirt. According to Fox News, he died later at a hospital.
“I have feelings,” Morrison told Fox News. “I have God in my life. That’s my main thing, wondering if God’s going to forgive me for taking a life. It bothers me.”
As of May 25, the Florida State Attorney’s Office was still evaluating the incident and contemplating whether a manslaughter investigation should be initiated in this case, The Washington Examiner reports.
Orlando attorney Mike Panella told the Washington Examiner that the shooting could be deemed lawful under Florida’s “justifiable use of force” law.
“So if someone comes into your house and you don’t know who they are, Florida automatically says we are presuming you are in fear,” Panella said.
In the Sunshine State, individuals can resort to deadly force if they believe their own life is in danger, according to section 776 of the Florida Statutes.
This law is commonly referred to as Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which considers warnings and does not require individuals to attempt fleeing dangerous situations before defending themselves with force.