STUART, FL - A worker at Guns, Etc. on Dixie Highway says Linda Schultz Russo trained there several years ago to get her concealed weapons permit.
Russo shot a man who was trying to break into her Palm City townhome Thursday morning.
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The suspect was identified as 23-year old Christopher Reber, who used to work at the Russo's pizza shop.
Brooklyn Joe's pizza is just a few doors down in the same shopping center as Guns, Etc.
The gunshop employee says Russo and her husband had even taken Reber in for a while.
Reber remained in critical condition at St. Mary's Medical Center.
Russo was listed in good condition at the hospital Thursday night.
Investigators have not released a motive in the Thursday morning crime.
PALM CITY, FL -- A Palm City woman pulled a gun on an armed man who broke into her home this morning, and after a shoot-out, both the woman and the suspect ended up in the hospital.
Martin County Sheriff's deputies say the confrontation happened just before 9 a.m. in the sleepy Lake Village neighborhood of Palm City.
Neighbors say the attacker, 23-year old Christopher Reber of Port St. Lucie, used a shotgun to blast his way through the sliding glass door of a home on Crossings Circle.
The home owner, Linda Schultz, was prepared to fight back. Neighbors say she had a gun of her own.
"I believe she’s always had one. There are many in this neighborhood who have all gone for concealed weapons courses now," says Linda Smyth, president of the Lake Village home owners' association.
Smyth says as soon as she heard the shots, she rushed to help her neighbor. She found Schultz injured with cuts and a black eye, standing on her front lawn, calling 911.
"She was hysterical," says Smyth. "I did get a towel to hold over her wound and waited with her until the police and paramedics showed up."
The suspect escaped. Deputies launched an intensive search through Stuart and Port St. Lucie.
Then, around 11 A.M., they got a break. One of Reber's family members tipped off sheriff's deputies to where he was.
Deputies descended on the Suburban Lodge, a motel along US-1 in Stuart. They found Reber in room 337.
Rescue crews who tended to hime found him seriously wounded from the shoot-out at the home. They treated him for multiple gunshot wounds, loaded him on to an air ambulance and flew him to St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach for trauma care.
"Everybody in this neighborhood is cheering, and we’re absolutely elated that she fought back and stood her ground. She’s one tough little woman," says Smyth.
Schultz and her husband own a local restaurant, Broadway Joe's Pizza on Dixie Hwy in Stuart. Smyth says the suspect is a former employee of theirs who has tried to break into their home twice in the past two years.
"They’re just a wonderful family. This is ludicrous, it’s absolutely a sin that someone would target a family that’s this nice," she says.
Deputies say Reber was transported to St. Mary's with "serious injuries."
Schultz is also being treated at St. Mary's, but Linda Smyth says it appeared that her friend's injuries were "superficial."
