TYLER, TEXAS — One Texas grandmother wasn’t about to let two men walk off with her father’s possessions. Seeing them exiting the house and loading up their vehicle with his goods, she pulled her pickup truck out of her driveway and blocked in his.
“After I noticed they started to load up stuff into their truck, that’s when I drove over there and confronted them. That’s when they tried to leave,” Mrs. Farmer said.
She then proceeded to get out of the truck and negotiate their surrender… All while keeping her double barrel shotgun leveled at them.
“I’m sure the dispatcher on the other end of the phone enjoyed my lecturing to these two men taking my daddy’s stuff,” Mrs. Farmer said. “I had plenty of time to lecture them, and tell them how ashamed they should be. They weren’t young men – they were older, so they knew better.”
The men complied with the woman. They waited dutifully for police to arrive and take them away. However, no charges were filed and they were released.
“If it had been up to me, I would’ve pressed charges, but it is my daddy’s property, and he is a Christian man and decided not to press charges,” Mrs. Farmer said. “I’m very protective of my parents – it would be a shame to get killed over a cooler and a gas can.”
Ice cold blood must flow through that woman’s veins. To stare down two men with just a double barrel shotgun shows real guts.
Tyler must be a unique place to live. It’s heartwarming hearing about an otherwise bad event ending without either bloodshed or more harm coming to anyone.
Is that always how it will go? Well, judging by most of the home invasion stories I report on, it’s not. There must be a certain grace to that woman or just a soft spot in the hearts of those criminals when it comes to getting caught. This isn’t the norm, though. And as much as I’d love to just have a happy feel-good story end there, I feel obliged to tell my reading audience that when it comes to confronting robbers, you have to be on your guard.
She did the right thing with calling 9-1-1 and trying to get them to surrender. They, apparently, had a few brain cells to rub together so they knew that there was no way they were coming out of this with just what they wanted.
I could tell my readers that the best thing to do is sit back, call the police, and keep a gun close. Risking your life over some odds and ends isn’t worth it. But I’d be a fool to think that’s what every gun owner will do. Quite a few, upon seeing a relative’s house get turned over for some items, would jump to defend their relative’s property.
A defensive mindset and situational awareness are key no matter what course of action you take. Hats off to this lady for her good work.