Dallas mom shoots man she says tried to steal her car with her kids inside
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Gisela Crespo, CNN
(CNN) — A mother in Dallas shot a man who attempted to steal her car while her two children were in the back seat, police said.
Officials said the incident took place in the parking lot of a Shell gas station in south Dallas on Wednesday night.
The mother was identified by CNN affiliate KTVT as Michelle Booker.
Booker stopped at the gas station’s convenience store on her way to a Fourth of July family gathering, KTVT reported. When she came out, she saw a man driving away in her SUV. Booker’s two small children were inside the car.
According to police, Booker jumped in the car and told the suspected carjacker to pull over and get out. When he didn’t stop the vehicle, Booker pulled a gun from her glove compartment and shot him once in the head.
Booker told KTVT she wanted to give the suspect a “warning shot.”
“I’m not a killer or anything like that but I do believe in, you know, defending what’s mine,” Booker said.
The suspect crashed the car into a telephone pole nearby after being shot.
The suspect, later identified by police as 36-year-old Ricky Wright, was taken to a hospital, where he was in serious but stable condition as of Thursday, according to KTVT. Wright is in police custody and has been charged with two counts of unlawful restraint and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, police said.
Police said there are no charges filed against Booker.