The security system comes with an app
so I asked her to go get her phone.
So I reached over to grab my phone and the phone was gone.
And I said, Cooper, dial my landline number
because my landline is always forwarded to my cell phone
for business.
And I just realized in that moment
that it hadn't rang all day.
So I made the phone call.
The phone goes straight to voicemail.
So I knew he had disabled my landline.
At this point, Ms. Martin starts to hyperventilate.
I said, Cooper, this is going down right now
and you need to get out.
He's in the house.
Dial 911.
And I jumped out of my chair and I grabbed the revolver.
She starts repeating, "he's in here, he's in here,"
and then pulls out a gun.
When she pulls out the gun, I'm personally
feeling a little uneasy.
So at this point, I go around the house.
I check in five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a workspace,
and nobody's there.
And I've got this gun.
And I reentered my bedroom.
I knew he was in there.
I could feel him.
I felt like I could almost smell him because the feeling was
so intense.
And I looked at the foot of the bed.
And I pulled the bed skirt up.
And I leaned down.
And I saw him.
And I told him, "I see you under my bed, give me my phone."
And he didn't let go of the phone.
And I leaned down with that revolver, I said,
"give me my phone."
After I searched the upstairs of the home
and realized that there's no forced entry,
I haven't seen anything at this point, I walk back downstairs.
And then I hear a boom.
I walk into the bedroom, I see Ms. Martin,
she's holding the gun pointing at the bed.
And I don't see anyone.
I asked, Ms. Martin, did you just shoot that gun?
And she says, he's under the bed, he's under the bed.
Next, I ask for Ms. Martin to hand me the pistol.
She says, no, no, and fires another shot at the ground.
[gunshot] - But I didn't hit him.
I hit the baseboard again.
I knew what I was doing.
He still didn't give me the phone.
And I said, give me my phone now.
I shot it again.
[gunshot]
I shot him in the left foot.
I said, I'm not kidding.
Give me the [bleep] phone.
And he screamed, Vick, I'm hit, I'm hit.
And then I shot that gun at the baseboard.
I told him, I said, don't ever say my name again.
Then I hear Ms. Martin say, I've
got one more bullet in this gun and it's got your name on it.
And he threw that phone out because he
heard that in my voice.
And I was really serious.
I'm on the phone and I tell 911
the location where we're at.
So I go outside and meet the police
at the end of the driveway.
So he gave me the phone.
I dialed 911 and put it on speaker.
So I said this, is Vickie Martin and I'm holding
Tony Gunter under my bed.
I've shot him.
And they said, we know.
And they said, Ms. Martin, go outside.
And I said, oh, I will not go outside.
You can't catch him.
And this is where it ends.
So about five police officers show
up as well as a medical unit.
I'm relieved to see the police but at the same time,
I'm worried for Ms. Martin still inside the home.
Police go into the side door.
And I heard them bust through, and then all of a sudden I
heard a voice and it said, drop the gun.
And I said, I will not drop this gun.
And the officer repeated himself,
he said, I'm only going to save this one more time,
drop the gun.
And I was like, oh wow, this is happening.
So I sat the gun down very quickly.
They rushed the room.
They handcuffed me, and then they took me up the stairs.
As they were beginning to take me up the stairs,
they dragged Tony out from under the bed.
It takes about 5 to 10 minutes and then
someone comes out on the stretcher,
and it's not Ms. Martin.
I just see a very large man with blood coming from his ankle.
Oh, my gosh, there was somebody there the whole time.
I searched the entire house, except for the one place
he was, which is the same room I had
been working in the whole time.
She stood up for herself and defended
herself and took all the proper steps that she needed to.
And she's still here with me today.
So I'm very proud that she was able to make
a decision that was, I think, for the best at the moment.
We never found out how he was entering and exiting the house.
Sometimes life just happens and you don't see it coming
and you don't know.
And you have to be ready to put your best foot forward
to take good care of yourself to find that beautiful being
that you really are and love yourself enough
to go through the recovery of her.
[music playing]