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‘I don’t think it’s fair:’ Woman claims shooting of man having medical episode was self-defense

SNELLVILLE, Ga. — Two Gwinnett County men are facing criminal charges because police say they went too far after a stranger tried to get into their home.

The men claimed they were acting in self-defense when they beat up and shot the man they believed was trying to break into their home.

Police say they chased an unarmed man for half a mile before attacking him. Investigators say the man used to live in the same home and because of an undisclosed medical condition thought he still did.

Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson spoke with one of the suspects’ sister who was also in the home when the victim came to the door.

“It was a stranger in the daytime, I didn’t know,” Kathy Rue said.

Rue says she was afraid a home invasion was about to happen when she saw someone at her front door and then again banging on the back door.

“When he saw me when I lifted the blinds, he took off,” she said.

She says just before 9 a.m. on Thursday, she heard noises at her home on Lake Commons Court in Snellville with her brother and son. Her brother, who is an Air Force veteran, and adult son chased after the man.

“We were trying to defend our territory,” Rue explained.

She said she called 911 because they were defending themselves.

“The person they were pursuing wasn’t armed, and he had already left the residence more than a half mile away,” Detective Jeff Manley with Snellville police said.

Police arrested 60-year-old Frederick Sherman and 28-year-old Eugene Days.

Rue says she is hopeful the charges against her loved ones will be dropped.

“I don’t think it’s fair because we were home minding our business and this stranger came to the home,” she said.

Sherman remains in the Gwinnett County Jail, but Days has since been released.

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