Off-Duty Deputy Takes Out Ax-Wielding Intruder To Protect Her Children

A criminal in Florida learned that it doesn’t pay to bring an ax to a gun fight. Steven Thayer picked the wrong house to break into with his ax. Mom Bridget Erwin, who happens to be an off-duty Orange County deputy, was forced to use her gun to protect both her home and her children.

Guns Save Lives

40-year-old Thayer used an ax to smash through the back door of off-duty Deputy Bridget Erwin‘s home in Apopka, Florida. Upon hearing glass break and her children scream, the off-duty Orange County deputy rushed to retrieve her gun.

Erwin’s 13-year-old daughter called 911 while this Mama Bear with a badge shot the intruder several times in the lower extremities. After shooting Thayer, Erwin was able to handcuff and secure the ax-wielding intruder before waiting for help to arrive.

Deputy Erwin was later applauded by the Sheriff for protecting her home and children in an appropriate manner.

“I think (the deputy) did a great job — she protected herself and her kids, who were at home with her,” Sheriff John Mina state about Deputy Erwin. “Just like any normal person, I think she’s shaken up by this.”

Deputy Bridget Erwin Recounts The Break-In 

From Click Orlando:

Orange County deputy Bridget Erwin told her fellow deputies she was lying down in her bedroom around 5 p.m. Tuesday when she heard a knock at the door.

“It wasn’t at the front door,” Erwin said she heard her 13-year-old say.

Erwin said she heard a banging sound get louder until she heard glass break. The off-duty deputy said she heard her children screaming as she ran to get her department-issued firearm.

Erwin told the man who had broken through the glass back door using an ax that she was with the Sheriff’s Office and told him to drop the ax. She said she the suspect, Steven Thayer, out of fear for her life, according to the report.

After she shot Thayer, Erwin told one of her children to grab her handcuffs. She was able to handcuff and secure Thayer until the other deputies arrived.

This is another success story of a good person with a gun stopping a bad person.

This man used an ax to break into this family’s home. Who knows what other harm he intended to cause this woman and her children?

Thankfully, this home belonged to an armed, trained, and prepared person who was willing and able to stop Thayer in his tracks.

RELATED: Concealed Carry Holder Is The Only One Man Enough To Help Cop In Danger

Not Thayer’s First Home Invasion

The Sheriff said deputies were already patrolling the neighborhood after reports of an ax-wielding man attempting to break into other homes. Thayer had already gained entry into one other home and also attempted to break into several others.

Steven Thayer was treated in the hospital and then released to jail as he awaits his legal fate. He faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and armed burglary of an occupied dwelling with a deadly weapon for breaking into Deputy Erwin’s home.

Thayer is also charged with burglary of an occupied dwelling and battery for a similar attempt at a different home.

“This could happen to anyone but our deputies are trained to protect ourselves, protect our communities and this person broke into a deputy’s home with an ax — and who knows what his intentions were — but anyone like that is going to be met with lethal force by our deputies and I think she did a great job,” Sheriff Mina said.

A local news report can be watched in the video below.