A Florida homeowner defended his property with a firearm after a woman allegedly tried to enter in the early hours of the morning.
Police in Leesburg, Florida, responded to a shooting around 4:43 a.m. on Aug. 25 upon receiving a report of a woman trying to enter a home.
The homeowner informed officers that he told the woman to leave, warning her that he was armed, per a report from WESH.
The woman kept trying to enter, and the homeowner fired his handgun through the door, which resulted in a window breaking.
Then the woman reached through the broken window to open the door from inside the house.
That’s when the homeowner fired again.
The alleged intruder was pronounced dead at the scene.
It has not been determined whether criminal charges are appropriate, and the Leesburg Police Department is investigating the matter.
WESH reported that the review could take weeks or even months.
Police identified the deceased female as 23-year-old Ananda Conley on Aug. 26, per a report from WOFL.
Conley lived two or three blocks away from the home where the shooting occurred, and it is not known why she wanted to access the house.
Police said Conley did not know the residents.
Conley’s roommate revealed that she had been drinking that night and had left the home angrily regarding a personal matter.
Florida offers robust protections for property owners who defend themselves and their homes from intruders.
Florida law says that “a person who is in a dwelling or residence in which the person has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground.”
A resident can use deadly force “if he or she reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony.”
The person who uses such force is “presumed to have held a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily harm” provided that “the person against whom the defensive force was used or threatened was in the process of unlawfully and forcefully entering.”
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