"...he was just standing there with a gun pointed at my face"

It's rarely mentioned in media reports, but guns are used over a million times a year to prevent crimes and save lives. Women, usually considered among the most vulnerable to violence, are many times the beneficiary of a weapon used in self-defense. Read about a woman who was about to be murdered, and used a gun to save her own life.

A 28-year-old Clermont County woman woke up Monday morning to find a man pointing a gun at her face.

That man was her ex-boyfriend, and what she was able to do in the minutes that followed may have saved her life.

But this would be victim was able to turn the tables on her attacker.

It's the attacker now who is at University Hospital after suffering a shotgun blast
to his legs.

Cassandra Gray knows she's lucky to be alive. "He told me to get dressed, I was going with him and he was gonna kill both of us," Gray told 9News.

With that man, 32-year-old Gary Glass, her ex-boyfriend, pointing a gun at her face she knew she had to stall for time.

"That's the only thing I kept thinking, I'm not going with him, not going because I won't come back," said Gray.

Her dogs were barking so she convinced Glass to let her let them outside.

She says she then talked to Glass for several minutes, and then, let the back in.

That's when she grabbed the phone to call 911 and they started wrestling.

"My dogs attacked him and he laid the gun down," said Gray.

"I grabbed the gun and ran and fell," said Gray, "and as I fell I rolled and he was coming toward me and I picked up the gun and shot."

This brave woman did several things right:

1. She didn't panic. She obviously kept her cool long enough to realize what was going to happen, and that she had to act on her own. She used her wits and was able to talk her assailant into letting the dogs in.
2. She own a couple of good dogs. It's said that the best deterrent to a break-in is owning a dog.
3. She was determined not to be taken away from her home to a location where she'd have no control. Chances are, if you are taken out of a public area, you will never come back, as she knew.
4. She wasn't afraid to shoot. If she didn't, she would've been taken to a location out of the way enough so that she'd likely be a rape and murder victim. Who knows if the ex had the guts to kill himself as well, especially if he took her away and may have gotten away with it.
5. By putting her attacker in the hospital, and probably in jail for a long time, she may have prevented another death of a bystander or police officer if there was a hostage situation or standoff. Also, a high-speed chase could've resulted in the deaths of innocents.

Way to go, lady!