This grandma’s got guts.
A retired widow in North Carolina was ready to defend herself when the man who reportedly robbed her home two days earlier turned up at her doorstep.
Sue Johnson, 68, told WRCB that 26-year-old Nathan Leatherwood knocked on her door and was holding what Johnson described as a “3-foot-long stick.”
“So I just pulled my gun out of my pocket and said, ‘I’m calling the sheriff’s office,'” Johnson told WRCB. “They’re going to come pick you up. I’m not going to let this happen to an old, retired lady who lives alone.”
On Feb. 24, Johnson said she came home from church to find that her place had been ransacked. A shotgun and cellphone were among the missing items.
Johnson, who said Leatherwood showed up to apologize, said she has known Leatherwood for years and that he was familiar with the layout of her house because he had done work there. Johnson told the Cherokee Scout that Leatherwood admitted to breaking into her home in Peachtree.
Leatherwood was already wanted in Georgia for probation and parole violations, according to the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2009 for the 2007 death of a woman who hit her head following an altercation, reports the Cherokee Scout.
Sheriff Keith Lovin, who had taught a gun safety course at Johnson’s church weeks before, arrived on the scene and was relieved to see that Johnson had not been harmed.
Lovin told the Daily News that he’s proud of her. “I went over and hugged her neck and told her she’s my hero,” he said.
“It’s really kind of tragic,” Lovin said to the Daily News. (Leatherwood) comes from a very good family, but he’s doing things that he shouldn’t be doing and that could get people hurt.”
Johnson says you need to be ready to protect yourself, especially if you live alone.
“Never did I feel scared,” Johnson said to WRCB. “I was prepared to take care of myself.”
Leatherwood was arrested and charged with larceny after breaking and entering, larceny of a firearm and second-degree burglary. He is being held at the Cherokee County Detention Facility on a $20,000 bond.
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