A gun-toting grandmother who shot down a would-be robber outside of her apartment complex is speaking out about the incident, efforts by the president to restrict gun ownership, and her support for Donald Trump.
The 65-year-old Manchester, New Hampshire woman who has identified herself only as Harriett recently spoke with WFEA’s Jared Goodell about the attempted robbery on her way home from work late Monday night.
Harriett noticed a dark sedan following her vehicle, and when she pulled into her apartment complex, a man exited the vehicle and attempted to block her path. When the man attempted to grab her, Harriett shot him once in the chest and sent him to the ground, CBS Boston reports.
Michael Bontaites, 23, was taken by a female driver of the vehicle to Elliot Hospital, where he was charged and arraigned Tuesday for attempted robbery. The incident was ruled self-defense by Manchester Police, according to the news site.
Yesterday, The Jared Goodell Show posted an interview with Harriett in which the two discuss the incident, as well as gun control efforts announced by President Obama this week.
“As soon as he moved his left arm to touch me, that’s when I pulled the gun out and shot him,” Harriett told Goodell, adding that she’s held a concealed weapons permit for over a decade and is “always locked and loaded.”
The 4’11” grandmother of one told Goodell it took only one shot to down the 200-pound Bontaites, and the police chief later called her after a series of police interviews to assure her “no question it was 100 percent self-defense,” Harriett said.
She said she’s glad to hear Bontaites survived the gunshot, but made it clear she has no qualms about defending herself with lethal force and believes most citizens deserve the same right.
“I didn’t want to kill anybody,” she said.
“No one has the right to do that to anybody,” she told CBS Boston of the attempted robbery. “And if you can defend yourself, all the power to you.”
When Goodell brought up the gun control debate, Harriett expressed doubts that Obama and gun control advocates will ever manage to strip citizens of their weapons.
“I will say personally I have no problem with background checks, I just don’t. But literally try to take our guns away, it will never happen. He’s not going to take our guns away,” Harriett said.
The grandmother said she supports Donald Trump in 2016.
“Personally … I do like Donald Trump. To me, the government is a business, and that’s how the government should be run, as a business. And he is a successful businessman,” she said.
“I think if he got elected, I don’t think he would run the White House like he’s running his total campaign. … But overall, I think he would be a good president, I really do.”
CBS Boston reports that police are now working to determine if other occupants in the vehicle that transported Bontaites to the apartment complex will face charges.
Bontaites is scheduled to appear in court January 14.
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