Wheelchair-bound woman, 92, who kills teen intruder 'just wanted him to leave.' - Bessie Jones

Jet, Nov 29, 1993 by Bechetta A. Jackson

As a widow with no immediate family members, Mrs. Bessie jones depends on few people other than herself.

So when a youth forced his way into Mrs. Jones' Chicago home recently, the frail wheelchair-bound woman did what she felt she had to: She shot the youth in the neck with a 38-caliber blue-steel revolver given to her by her husband shortly before he died in 1945. He was pronounced dead in Jones' living room.

Mrs. Jones had felt terrorized since an attempted burglary at her home only two weeks prior to this intrusion. Despite that, she maintains that she didn't mean to kill 16-year-old Muhammed Abdul-Rahmaan, who went from room-to-room pulling out and searching through dresser drawers. She just wanted him to get out of her home and leave her alone, she told JET in her first interview with the press since the shooting.

Though she refused to speak to a number of reporters from television, radio and newspapers clamoring to interview her, Mrs. Jones did give JET her first interview:

"I didn't want to kill him. I just wanted him to leave, but he wouldn't go," explained Mrs. Jones, who moved in with a cousin shortly after the shooting. She said she plans to sell her brick bungalow home on Chicago's South Side.

Mrs. Jones asked the youth what he was looking for several times but he never answered, she said. "He just kept right on. I guess he was looking for money or drugs. You really don't know what they're going to do...shoot you or what."

She retrieved her gun from under a living room sofa pillow while the intruder was going through other parts of the house, she said.

"I always have to do things for myself because I have no one else. I have no immediate family; no husband, no children," Mrs. Jones said.

Authorities took possession of the unregistered gun, but declined to file any charges against Mrs. Jones. They say she acted in self-defense. Police are still looking for the youth's accomplice who stood lookout on Mrs. Jones' porch during the robbery attempt. Police said the youth fled after hearing the single gunshot.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Jones is trying her best to put the tragedy behind her. "I just can't seem to get it off my mind," she lamented. I've never had to shoot anyone before in my life. I sometimes wonder, 'Why now, Lord? Why now?'"