These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is somewhat updated from the calendar version. Do you have your 2027 calendar yet?
Illegal drugs shatter families, but a mother having to defend herself against her own drugged-up son breaks your heart.
Sean Clemens’s mother knew what her son was like on meth. He got agitated and aggressive.
So when the 32-year-old turned up at her house one Wednesday morning, unannounced and demanding to be let in, she didn’t open the door. She could tell he was high. Mom was 64 and afraid of her own son, so she went and got her gun.
He’d lived with her until recently. Then he’d finished a rehabilitation program and moved out to Lebanon County.
Clemens ran around to the back of the house and tried to force his way in through a sliding glass door. When that didn’t work, he went to the basement; he found that door unlocked.
Once inside, the two had an argument that ended with Mom shooting her son several times. It was a little before 8 AM.
She called 911. Police arrived to find him dead in the basement.
The prosecutor investigated, and the people who knew Clemens — family, friends, associates — said what what Mom said: On drugs, he could get agitated and aggressive. A witness had seen him walking toward her house just before, and he’d looked impaired. His contacts with law enforcement went back to 2011, and they included crimes of violence along with drug offenses.
The autopsy found he’d died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest, with high levels of methamphetamine in his system.
About six weeks later, the DA announced there’d be no charges:
There was no direct evidence uncovered that would dispute the facts put forth by the victim’s mother to justify her actions. The actions of the victim’s mother appear to be an apparent act of self-defense.
It’s easy to write someone off as a druggie or a loser, but in reality every death is a tragedy — and how much more so when a mom has to kill her own son in self-defense. But behind the tragedy of the situation lies an important fact: Having a firearm kept her safe from a dangerously lost soul.
These stories are based on our Good Guy with a Gun one-page-per-day calendar. Do you have yours for 2027 yet?
Sources
News
WFMZ ran two articles, first on the investigation, then on the DA’s ruling. Local21 republished the second.
Police investigating Bethel Twp. homicide (Investigation)
DA: Mother who fatally shot son during break-in acted in self-defense (Ruling)
Myerstown man killed by mother during break-in: DA rules shooting as self-defense (Ruling, as republished by Local21)
Daily Voice ran two articles, first on the investigation, then on the ruling.
Shooter Involved In Bethel Township Homicide Cooperating With Police: Report (Investigation)
Mom Justified In Fatal Shooting Of Myerstown Son During Break-In: DA (Ruling)
Other coverage:
Mother cleared in fatal shooting of son in Bethel Township home (Berks Weekly)
Fatal Bethel Township shooting deemed self-defense (Reading Eagle, read as syndicated on Yahoo!)
Bethel Township Homicide Under Investigation (News Radio 1340 WRAW)
2A / Specialist Media
Mother Cleared In Fatal Self-Defense Shooting Of Intruding Son (Concealed Nation)
Mom Shoots Son In Self-Defense (The Truth About Guns)
Being a mother, I've got nothing to add to this one.