This time it was the princess who saved the prince from the brigand rather than the opposite way around. That occurred in Indiana, where an armed woman saved her husband from an armed attacker who was holding a gun to his head.
The incident happened in the town of Salem, Indiana, where police investigators say that 45-year-old Michael Chastain drove through the front yard of a home and broke into the house. Once he had entered the premises, Chastain forced the homeowner to the ground and held a firearm to his head.
The homeowner’s wife, however, did not have a gun pointed at her head. Instead, she had a handgun pointed at Chastain and fired, striking him. The bullet did not kill Chastain immediately, but it did fatally wound him. When deputies from the Washington County Sheriff’s Department arrived, they found Chastain in the front yard, suffering from a gunshot wound. Chastain was then taken to the Sain Vincent Hospital in Salem, which promptly pronounced him dead.
Adding some degree of context to the story, Indiana State Police investigators told local media that Chastain in well known in the Salem area and that he does have a criminal background. Additionally, the investigators said that Chastain once dated the homeowner’s daughter. However,she lives elsewhere, so it is unclear why Chastain targeted his ex-girlfriend’s father, unless it was to steal.
Fortunately for the wife, Indiana has a broadly permissive “Stand Your Ground” law that allows residents to use force to defend themselves in situations such as this one. Sergeant Matt Ames of Indiana State Police described the law to local outlet WTHI in April, saying, “A law has been put in place you can use force against another individual. If they believe the force is imminent or it can cause serious bodily harm to themselves or another individual.”
Ames did add that the individual targeted with deadly force must have actually done something to deserve that use of force, saying, “People need to realize that if someone knocks at your door. You’re maybe scared a little bit, but there’s no threat to you, you have no authorization to be using the use of force by getting that gun out and doing something that could result in bodily injury or death.”
Another person quoted by that outlet, a gun owner in the area, said that the stand your gound law is a good thing because it helps people defend themselves when justified, but that those who plan on using weapons for self-defense should be trained in when and how to properly use such weapons.
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He said, when speaking on that, “If you’re going to be a responsible gun owner. You need to get training. You need to understand how to do that. Not only how to use the weapon, but when to use it. When is it justified and when is it not.“