Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
WILLIAMSTON, SC (FOX Carolina) - Anderson County deputies are investigating after a homeowner said he has to shoot a man to defend his family when the intruder forced his way into his Williamston home.
Deputies said they were called to the home on Boiter Road just after 10 p.m.
35-year-old Antwain Moton said he was playing his X-Box when a man he didn't know began pounding on his door.
Moton said he ordered the man to leave, but the man made his way inside and was scuffling with Moton, his wife, and his grandmother, while his four-year-old daughter began crying in the next room.
“His hands were just coming toward us, like he was going to do some type of harm," Moton said.
Moton said when the man made his way fully into the home, he knew he had to act.
“He was in the front door and closed the door behind him when I had to shoot him.”
Moton said he fired, and the bullet hit the intruder in the chest and sent the stranger falling backward.
“As soon as I shot him, I called 911, and tried to keep him responsive while I (spoke to the dispatcher).”
By the time deputies arrived, the intruder was dead.
The coroner identified the deceased as Efren Nectali Ramirez, 39, from Honduras. Ramirez was shot in the chest after a brief struggle with the homeowner.
“It hurts me that I took his life. I didn’t want that to happen, but I had no other choice," Moton said Monday evening.
Moton said he was on edge, and wondering what would have happened if he hadn't been there.
"What if I wouldn’t have been home? What would he have done then," Moton has been asking himself.
Moton said he did what we felt he had to do.
"I had to protect them. That’s my family.”
Another question he still doesn't know the answer to is why Ramirez showed up at his doorstep.
"Why? Why did he have to come here?”
It's a question that deputies are trying to answer as well. They said their investigation is ongoing.