A county prosecutor described the 85-year-old Idaho woman’s shooting and killing of an intruder in her home as “one of the most heroic acts of self-preservation I have ever heard of.”
The lady, identified as Christine Jenneiahn on Wednesday, acted in self-defense, according to Bingham County Prosecutor Ryan Jolley, who determined that the case was one of justifiable homicide.
What exactly happened?
On March 13 at around two in the morning local time, a man who investigators have named as Derek Condon broke into Christine Jenneiahn’s home while she was asleep in her bedroom.
At home at the time was her crippled son David Jenneiahn.
Condon woke Jenneiahn up on Monday, April 9, according to an incident investigation by Bingham County Prosecutor Ryan Jolley. Condon was “dressed in a military jacket, black ski mask, and pointing a gun and flashlight at her.”
The incident report further stated, “Condon then put Christine in handcuffs and led her into her home’s living room.” “Subsequent investigation indicates a strong likelihood that Condon struck Christine in the head as she lay in her bed, as there was blood on the pillow and floor in her room where she had been sleeping.”
She told detectives that she felt the suspect would kill her if she didn’t use lethal force, so she made the decision to use it “now or never” to protect herself and her crippled son.
“This case presents an easy analysis of self-defense and justifiable homicide,” prosecuting attorney Ryan Jolley of Bingham County, Idaho, stated in a statement this week, absolving Jenneiahn of any wrongdoing. “It also presents one of the most heroic acts of self-preservation I have heard of.”