Drizzt
Member
Austin woman shoots attacker in the face
KXAN-TV
updated 11:18 p.m. CT, Thurs., July. 3, 2008
An Austin woman credits her handgun and her own quick thinking with saving her life after she shot a man who was trying to attack her. Leonie Burgos said the man scaled a fence outside her apartment near Barton Skyway and South Lamar.
When Burgos saw the man jump the fence, she ran inside and grabbed her .38 caliber pistol. She went back outside to see if the man had left. She said that's when he attacked her by tackling her to the ground from behind.
Bergos said she shot the man only after trying to scare him with the gun first.
"First I tried to point it up in his face so that he would see that I had a gun so he would take off running," said Burgos. "But he didn't."
Burgos said the man continued to hold her down and the two struggled. She said she pulled the trigger three times and did not know if she hit the man. He ran away before police arrived.
Thirty minutes later, a man went to the emergency room at Brackenridge Hospital with a gunshot wound to the face. Hospital personnel called police. An arrest warrant said Christopher Benavides,20, told police he intended to steal the woman's cell phone and sell it for cash before he was shot.
Benavides had two warrants out for his arrest at the time of the attack for criminal trespass and criminal mischief. He now faces a charge of robbery by assault, as well. Burgos is not facing any charges.
KXAN-TV
updated 11:18 p.m. CT, Thurs., July. 3, 2008
An Austin woman credits her handgun and her own quick thinking with saving her life after she shot a man who was trying to attack her. Leonie Burgos said the man scaled a fence outside her apartment near Barton Skyway and South Lamar.
When Burgos saw the man jump the fence, she ran inside and grabbed her .38 caliber pistol. She went back outside to see if the man had left. She said that's when he attacked her by tackling her to the ground from behind.
Bergos said she shot the man only after trying to scare him with the gun first.
"First I tried to point it up in his face so that he would see that I had a gun so he would take off running," said Burgos. "But he didn't."
Burgos said the man continued to hold her down and the two struggled. She said she pulled the trigger three times and did not know if she hit the man. He ran away before police arrived.
Thirty minutes later, a man went to the emergency room at Brackenridge Hospital with a gunshot wound to the face. Hospital personnel called police. An arrest warrant said Christopher Benavides,20, told police he intended to steal the woman's cell phone and sell it for cash before he was shot.
Benavides had two warrants out for his arrest at the time of the attack for criminal trespass and criminal mischief. He now faces a charge of robbery by assault, as well. Burgos is not facing any charges.
