Coalfield, Tennessee

From Knoxville’s WBIR.com of February 16, 2007

Burglary suspect sought near Coalfield School

According to the Morgan County Sheriff's Department, deputies are looking for a burglary suspect near Coalfield School.

The suspect tried to break into a house near the school at around 8:00 a.m. Friday morning. A woman was home alone in the house with her two children. Her husband had just left for work.

The mother shot at the suspect, who fled.

The school principal says school officials are keeping a close lookout in the area surrounding the school.

From Knoxville’s WBIR.com of February 16, 2007

A woman home alone with her two children in Morgan County's Coalfield community fired a gun three times Friday morning to protect herself and her family.

Shortly after Suzanne Carson's husband left for work, Carson said she went back to bed with her 3-year old daughter.

When she heard a noise, she got up to check on her 4-year old son, who was sleeping down the hallway.

"As I stood here, I could hear someone at the back door," Carson explained, standing in her home's hallway, at the doorway leading into the kitchen.

Carson said she saw the face of a young man trying to open her back door.

She said he appeared to be in his 20s and was wearing a dark baseball cap with a yellow logo

Carson went for a gun, with only one thought.

"The first thing actually was my kids," Carson said.

She thought, "Ok, I'm going to have to do something to protect them."

Holding the gun, Carson said she yelled for the man to stop.

"I could see his arm entering my home," she said. "That's when I fired the first shot."

The kitchen wall took a hit, but it didn't stop the intruder.

"He stepped completely into the kitchen, and that's when I fired the other two shots," Carson explained.

The shots shattered the glass storm door and ripped holes in the screen.

Carson said the man wearing a thick dark shirt or jacket fled into the woods behind her home.

"I was terrified, absolutely terrified," Carson said. "And I remember screaming the whole time it was going on.

"He didn't say anything, not one word," she added.

It scares Carson to even think about what he wanted, this time.

She believes he was also outside her home Thursday night, when she was home alone with her children again.

"They actually tried to open one of the playroom windows," she explained.

The woman whose husband taught her to shoot a gun for the first time a month ago didn't hesitate Friday morning.

"I'm so proud of her for being able to protect herself and the kids," husband B.J.. Carson said. "She's truly a hero."

"I've been wanting a new back door, so I figure this is a good chance to get one," Suzanne Carson laughed.

Carson said her daughter slept through the whole ordeal.

The Morgan County Sheriff said prison dogs lost the suspect's trail in the woods.

They're not sure if he was hit, but hospitals have been notified to be on the look-out for a gunshot victim.

Meanwhile, the Carson's home is not far from the Coalfield school.

Friday afternoon, the school principal said school officials were keeping a close lookout in the area surrounding the school.