An octogenarian Idaho mother shot and killed a man in a harrowing, life-or-death situation after he broke into her home, attacked her, and threatened to kill her last month, according to law enforcement.
Christine Jenneiahn, 85, will not be prosecuted for the justifiable homicide of Derek Condon, 39, a case review by Bingham County Prosecuting Attorney Ryan Jolley published this week explains.
The incident occurred during the early morning hours on March 13, the prosecutor said. At the time, the only other person “lawfully in her home” was Jenneiahn’s disabled son, according to the document.
At around 2 a.m., Condon startled the woman awake. She found herself facing a man “dressed in a military jacket, black ski mask, and pointing a gun and flashlight at her,” the prosecutor determined.
“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,” Jolley added in the case review. “She also reported he had hit her in the head at some point during the incident but was unsure of exactly when that took place.”
At some point during the would-be reaving, the intruder is said to have discovered the presence of Jenneiahn’s son — which apparently incensed him. Condon went on to scold the woman for not mentioning the disabled man — and repeatedly threatened to kill her.
As the robbery went on, Jenneiahn was eventually able to drag herself — while still handcuffed to the chair — to the side of her bed and reach underneath a pillow. There, she kept a .357 magnum. Then, she dragged herself back to where the assailant had left her and hid her gun in between an armrest and couch cushion to wait out the terror.
The woman told law enforcement her memory of the pivotal moments became hazy but after receiving an additional threat on her life, she considered it a “now or never” moment and then reached for the gun, drawing it from its hiding place, and striking Condon with two shots that would ultimately kill him, Jolley relayed.
The home invader, however, emptied an entire magazine in response, the prosecutor said. Jenneiahn was struck in her abdomen, leg, arm, and chest. And then she fell to the floor — where she stayed for some 10 hours before her son later brought her a phone so she could call 911. The woman miraculously survived her multiple wounds.