Police: Woman Shot Intruder 9 Times In Self Defense

May 13, 2011 by Arkady Bukh

Police: Woman Shot Invader 9 Times In Self Defense

A man who was shot and killed following a confrontation with an Atlanta woman probably had been stalking her for days, the Gwinnett police said. Law enforcement suspects there may be other victims.

The 53-year old woman, a counselor at a private school, was alone when the attack happened. She lives in Duluth on East Mount Tabor. Calling 911, the victim told the operator that she “shot him as much as I could.” Moments later, the police found her attacker dead in the back yard.

A strange man met her when she was getting out of the shower. The man had a kitchen knife, and law enforcement said there had been a struggle in the bathroom. The woman fell in the tub and injured her back. The cops later identified the man as Israel Perez Puentes, a Cuban national who resided in Alpharetta.

Gwinnett police spokesman Edwin Ritter described the incident for reporters. “The male was armed with a kitchen knife and a struggle occurred. She injured herself when she fell in the tub,” Ritter said.

The woman grabbed a shower rod and tried to fight Puentes off. When Puentes forced the woman into her bedroom, she offered to give her attacker money. Instead, she grabbed a .22 handgun and shot the intruder nine times.

The man collapsed in the front yard after running out of the back door. He was taken to the Gwinnett Medical Center where he later died. The victim was driven to the same hospital for treatment. Her wounds were not-life-threatening.

The police told Atlanta TV Channel 2 they didn’t know why the woman was marked.

“He might have seen her and recognized her as being a likely victim. Then he hunted her until the best moment to strike happened,” said Ritter.

“Our detectives are looking into other cases around Metro Atlanta as well as our jurisdiction to see if he had been involved with other sexual assaults that may have happened.”

After the attack, the woman ran to a neighbor’s house. The next-door-neighbor, Rebecca Wisecup told the Atlanta Journal that the woman’s screams woke her.

“It was just terrible screaming,” Wisecup said. “I discovered our next-door-neighbor on our kitchen tiles, naked, just out of the shower. She was shrieking that someone tried to kill her.”

The victim amazed her neighbors. New York criminal attorney Arkady Bukh said he was shocked at how the victim defended herself against the intruder.

“She’s smart, witty and obviously well prepared,” said Tucker.

Ritter called the investigation as ongoing but defended the victim. The shooting appeared to be justified, and she acted in self-defense. “There are no plans to charge her,” said Ritter.

Police said that neighbors had previously spotted Puentes’ car in the neighborhood before the attack but failed to report it. According to Puentes’ estranged wife, he had been arrested for burglary in Johns Creek the previous December.