COON RAPIDS, Minn. (WCCO) — It’s the last thing two burglary suspects expected to hear when they broke into a Coon Rapids home. From within the house came the unmistakable sound of a pump shotgun. At the other end of that gun was a 22-year-old woman who is nine weeks pregnant.
The young woman asked not to be identified because the two suspects are still at large. However, she says when the men ignored her barking pit bull and black lab, and broke through a kitchen door, she had no other choice but to chamber a round into the 12-gauge shotgun.
There’s perhaps no other sound that commands as much respect and fear. The young woman at the business end of that gun was home alone and prepared to protect herself.
It all happened in broad daylight on Monday afternoon. That’s when the first man walked up to her kitchen door and began pounding and ringing the doorbell. He was clearly checking to see if anyone was home.
The woman recalls, “He started ringing the doorbell, probably 50 times, fast — ding, ding, ding, ding!”
The woman, who is nine weeks pregnant, was feeling sick and was in her bed. Not expecting anyone to visit, she called her boyfriend and then phoned police.
“About three minutes later, my dogs started barking again and I looked out the window and now there are two guys standing outside my home,” the woman recalled.
Within mere seconds, she heard the loud “bang” of the kitchen door being kicked open. With footsteps coming her way, she quietly stepped upstairs.
“So then I hustled up the stairs to grab our gun, and I came down and I loaded it and cocked it,” said the homeowner.
With a single pump of her 12-gauge shotgun, the would-be burglars bolted out the door and through the backyard.
“Yes, a shotgun racking is something you don’t forget if you’ve ever heard one. So, it frightened these two suspects off right away, they took off running,” said Coon Rapids Police Captain John Hattstrom.
They ran across the backyard and into a nearby church parking lot where they were seen getting into a two-door, newer model automobile. But they didn’t escape without notice. The woman was able to get a long look at the two and provided police with a description.
A police sketch of one of the men shows him wearing a slight beard and wearing a dark cap. He is described as in his mid-20s, about 5’8″ to 5’10″ tall and weighing around 160 pounds. He was wearing a tan-color Carhartt-style jacket with a fur-like collar, dark jeans and possibly dark work boots.
The other suspect is also a white male in his mid-20s and about 6’0″ tall. He was also unshaven and wearing a black or dark blue Carhartt-style jacket.
They were brazen would-be burglars who met their match, with a convincing sound.
“I’m pregnant and I wasn’t about to go down with nothing, with two men double my size and me here,” said the young woman.
Anyone with information is asked to call Coon Rapids Police at 763-767-6481 or after-hours at 763-427-1212.
A reward of up to $500 is being offered for information that leads to the men’s arrests.
