Florida Sheriff: Woman Made ‘Neighborhood Safer’ by Shooting Alleged Armed Intruder

Putnam County Sheriff H.D. ‘Gator’ DeLoach says an elderly Interlachen, Florida, woman made her “entire neighborhood safer” by shooting and killing an alleged armed intruder around 3 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Action News Jax reported a 67-year-old woman awoke to the sound of the door handle rattling. She thought it was her husband coming home from work, but when she went to the door, 64-year-old Reginald Best allegedly “forced his way in with a gun.”

She told Best to leave but refused.

WCJB noted Best then allegedly raised a gun at the woman and the woman responded by shooting him.

The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office pointed out they had received calls from Best and another female earlier in the night:

Prior to the shooting deputies had received several erratic calls from Best and another female at 172 Silver Lake Drive. During one of the calls Best had told dispatchers he was hiding from his neighbors and there were people in orange standing outside his residence. In the call from the other female, she told dispatchers Best had jumped out of the window at 172 Silver Lake Drive with a firearm and ran down the street.

Sheriff DeLoach comment on the woman, saying, “She absolutely had the right to defend herself and I’m grateful that her decisive action stopped the threat, and eliminated the risk of further loss of life, making her entire neighborhood safer.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.