Beatrice Turner’s Des Moines, Iowa house is getting a new door. The new one might just keep someone safe.
Early Tuesday morning, Des Moines Police arrested a man outside Turner’s east side home. His name is Nelson McAlpine and he might just be the luckiest man in Iowa. He walked up to Turner’s house around 5:15 a.m.
“This gentleman was just pounding on the door with both hands and I went to the front door and I peeked and I said ‘You must have the wrong house’,” Turner explained.
Did he ever.
While McAlpine started kicking in the door, Turner calmly went to her bedside table, took out her .22 caliber pistol, and returned to the front room to meet the intruder. When he wouldn’t leave she opened fired.
Her shot missed. The police arrived to arrest McAlpine and to reload Beatrice Turner’s gun. The 89-year-old says she wasn’t scared, and won’t be now.
“Long as they’re on the outside, I won’t bother you, but coming in, I was taught to defend myself,” she said.