SULTAN, Wash. – It was a moment Barb Moles hoped would never come.
A few years ago, her husband bought her a .38 caliber pistol for a Christmas gift.
While she knew how to fire a gun, she hoped she would never have to use it.
On Thursday night, she heard a commotion downstairs and found her husband bleeding on the floor.
According to KOMO, John had been attacked with a knife and beaten with a crowbar.
“I’ve been stabbed,” he told his wife.
Immediately, Moles ran for her gun.
“I was just intent upon stopping him. I didn’t have any other thought in my head,” she said. “I just knew I had to stop him.”
When she walked back into the hallway, she saw the intruder and fired four rounds.
“I felt like if I hadn’t, my son and I might both be dead and my husband might have bled to death on the kitchen floor,” Moles said. “You know, never in my whole life did I ever anticipate having to take another life – especially at age 80.”
Police say 25-year-old Steven Sheppard was pronounced dead at the scene.
Moles’ husband, John, is still recovering from his injuries.
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