Family "Friend". (Exercising the Right).(Tracey Roberts in self-defense)(Brief Article)

On the afternoon of December 13, 2001, Dustin Wehde, 20, rang the doorbell at the home of Robert and Tracey Roberts in Early, Iowa. The couple had befriended him months earlier. He told Mrs. Roberts that he was looking for odd jobs, but since Mr. Roberts was out of town on business, and she did not expect him to return until later that day, Mrs. Roberts asked Wehde to return the next day to discuss the matter.

About an hour later, while she was preparing to bathe her one-year-old daughter Mason, Mrs. Roberts heard a noise downstairs. As detailed by staff writer Art Coullen in the Des Moines Register for December 2 1st, she glanced down the stairwell, noticed two men, and hurriedly took her daughter to a bedroom where her three-year-old son Noah and her 11-year-old son Bert were playing. One of the intruders then grabbed her by the hair and began choking her with pantyhose that she had earlier draped over the banister.

She briefly passed out during the brutish attack, but regained consciousness and was able to break free with the help of son Bert, who rushed to her aid armed with a baseball bat. She ran to her bedroom and frantically sought to work the combination of a gun safe located under the bed. The other man jumped on her back and began pulling her hair, then yanking her feet. Fortunately, the safe door opened and she was able to grab a Beretta handgun, reach around, and fire ...