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Clearwater woman shoots, kills 26-year-old home intruder after he begins attacking her inside her bedroom

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Posted at 11:01 AM, Jun 21, 2022
and last updated 2022-06-21 23:13:34-04

CLEARWATER, Fla. — A home intruder was shot and killed in Pinellas County Tuesday morning.

The Clearwater Police Department said a woman called 911 just before 9 a.m. after she woke up to find an intruder in her bedroom.

After the 26-year-old man, later identified as Justin William Wright, began attacking the woman, according to Clearwater PD, she grabbed a gun and shot him in self-defense.

Wright died at the home in the 1600 block of Flagler Drive.

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During a press conference, Chief Dan Slaughter said the woman, whose name will not be released per Marsy's Law, hasn't even been living in the home for very long.

When asked how the victim was doing emotionally, Slaughter said, "good people don't want to have to do this kind of thing to protect themselves so she's upset."

Slaughter added that Wright lived next door to that woman, and whether or not they had prior interactions with each other is still being investigated.

It's an incident that one neighbor tells ABC Action News has many people on edge.

"It is scary and I’ve talked to the rest of my neighbors and now they’re uncomfortable just to know that somebody would come in your house like that," said Mary Daddario.

And as police continue to investigate a possible motive, Daddario says she's left thinking about how that woman is holding up.

"That's something that you can't over because that's a shock. It's an invasion you're going to not ever feel comfortable anymore and I'm sure she's going to go through some sort of mental thing in her mind because of what happened. That's going to play over and over in her mind," she said.

Clearwater PD chief provides update on deadly shooting of home intruder | Press Conference