Woman shoots 16-year-old after waking up to find him walking to her bedroom

PARKLAND, Wash. – A Washington state woman shot a 16-year-old in the arm after finding the teen inside her home in the early hours of Saturday morning, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.

Deputies responded at 3:15 a.m. Saturday morning to a 911 call reporting an unknown intruder inside a woman’s home in Parkland. The suspect was rushed to the hospital after suffering a serious gunshot wound to one arm.

“The homeowner told the deputies that her husband was out of town for business and she had been asleep in bed when her two dogs started barking. The victim said that she then heard a scratching sound, so she looked from her bedroom down her hallway and saw an unknown man inside her home,” the department said in a press release.

When the 16-year-old started walking to the woman’s bedroom, she grabbed her gun. She told investigators she fired one shot as a warning, but when he kept coming she shot again, striking him in the arm.

“She told deputies that while they were en route, the suspect kept yelling ‘I’m so high’ until he collapsed on the floor by her front door,” according to KCPQ.

A bullet hole was found in one of the windows of the home and is suspected to be from the apparent warning shot fired by the victim. One of the front bedroom windows was also left ajar and presumed to be used by the suspect to enter the home, according to the sheriff’s department.

The boy will be charged on one count of residential burglary once he is out of the hospital, the department said.