Kingston, TN police say a woman with a baseball bat took actions that resulted in a “home invasion that had gone horribly wrong for the suspect” last week.
Police say, the female resident (a 52 year old adult) answered a knock at her door to find a woman holding a flyer about a lost dog. As soon as she opened the door, a masked man stepped into the doorway, grabbed her arm, and attempted to pull her outside. When this initial assault proved unsuccessful, the masked man pushed the resident back inside the home and shouted, “This is a robbery!”
The woman struggled with her attacker removing his mask and recognizing him as family friend, Joe Sotello. She also noticed the gun tucked in his waistband.
“The victim grabbed a baseball bat from behind the door and fought back in clearly justifiable self-defense,” the KPD news release says.
“Two teenage witnesses (both 18 year old white female adults) were in the residence at the time and joined in clearly justifiable third-party defense of the victim. Together, the three women physically drove Mr. Sotello out of the house and onto the front lawn. The woman who had been holding the flyer (later determined to be Mr. Sotello’s girlfriend) fled to a silver Honda. Mr. Sotello attempted to get into the car with her; however, he could not escape the three women who continued to get the better of him.”
“After initially declining medical treatment, Mr. Sotello was arrested for 1) Aggravated Robbery and 2) Aggravated Burglary and transported to the Kingsport City Jail. Due to injuries inflicted upon him during the commission of his crime, and out of an abundance of caution, he was later taken to a local hospital for medical clearance before being incarcerated back in the Kingsport City Jail.”
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