Refused a kiss, 92-year-old shoots house
By Reuters
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla - Helen Staudinger, 92, wanted a kiss, and authorities say she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
The central Florida woman fired a semi-automatic pistol four times at her 53-year-old neighbor’s house after he refused to kiss her, police said Tuesday.
“If my head would have been over just a little bit further, (a bullet) probably would have hit me in the back of the head,” the neighbor, Dwight Bettner, told Reuters.
Staudinger was in jail Tuesday, a day after being arrested on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and shooting into a dwelling.
According to a police report, Staudinger told deputies she went to Bettner’s house in Fort McCoy, Florida, and refused to leave until he gave her a kiss.
When he said no, they argued and she left angry, the report said.
Bettner said he was on the phone with his father moments later when he heard gunshots. One bullet went through a window, spraying him with glass.
The former law enforcement officer said his elderly neighbor had seemed attracted to him since he moved in six months ago.
“I’ve taken her trash out for her, just neighborly stuff,” Bettner said. “I guess she just took that as something else.”
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A friend of mine posted this story on Facebook and it reminded me of a story from my past.
When I was in high school I had these trashy neighbors who had a senile, latch key grandma who wandered the block. She'd ring my doorbell and ask for cigarettes, which was pretty bad since she had an oxygen tank. When I told her I didn't have any smokes she'd ask for a kiss. I'd end up just having to shut the door in her face because she wouldn’t walk away.
I legitimately feared bodily harm. She wasn't that spry but she was too crazy to underestimate. I guess I should just be happy she didn't shoot my house up.
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