“I’ll always stand by my right to protect my family.”
A grandma reportedly shot an intruder with a crossbow after a gang stormed her home in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.
Anji Rhys, 49, has claimed that she grabbed the weapon off the wall after four men mistook her house for a drug den.
At the time of the break-in her mum Lilian, 82, was asleep upstairs and her 22-year-old son Dillon was also in the house.
A tall man wearing a blue bandanna burst into the room with a hammer after the gang had kicked in a door.
“All four men were shouting, ‘Keep your f***ing heads down. Where’s the weed?'” she told the Sun.
“The gang chased me into the living room so I grabbed my crossbow from the wall.”
They then reportedly chased Ms Rhys through to her living room and pinned her son down to the floor. In response she grabbed the crossbow and shot one of the men in the stomach, causing him to fall and cut her hand with his machete.
The man then shouted“you f***ing bitch, you shot me” before fleeing along with the rest of the group.
Police attended the scene, however, Ms Rhys was no arrested as no victim had come forward in connection with the incident.
Bedfordshire Police said: “We were called to reports of a burglary. Four men had forced entry armed with weapons. The occupant confronted the men and they fled after a short altercation.
“The victim told police she shot one intruder with a crossbow but we have so far been unable to trace any injured party.”
Ms Rhys has now affectionately nicknamed the crossbow ‘Manstopper’. Reflecting on the ordeal, she said: “I’ll always stand by my right to protect my family.”
