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CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Las Vegas mother uses shovel to fight off armed man

Posted at 11:55 PM, Mar 01, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-02 03:02:06-05
A Las Vegas woman is furious after she says she was wrongfully arrested.
 
Hughes says she grabbed a shovel in self-defense to chase off an armed man near Fort Apache and Farm roads.
 
The woman's daughter caught it all on camera as she remained on the phone with 911.
 
Michele Hughes says the man in the video wanted $10 from her 16-year-old daughter for some Xanax.
 
Hughes says the man ended up texting the younger daughter, threatening her until she cried. Hughes says her daughter was very upset and said the man would be over soon.
 
Hughes grabbed her shovel and says the man knocked on the door about 15 minutes later.
 
"He knocks on the door and then stands to the side right here and then I come out and have the shovel kind of behind me," said Hughes. "He sticks the gun barrel part out so I could see it."
 
Hughes admits she pushed him.
 
"He turned and then I hit him right here with the shovel just once and he's running and he's like I'm going to shoot you I'm going to shoot you!"
 
Hughes says all she could think about was protecting her two younger daughters.
 
During the altercation, Hughes says she realized the man's gun was a pellet gun when he shot off a pellet and it hit her in the stomach. She showed 13 Action News a bruise from where the pellet hit her.
 
Hughes says she was acting in self-defense.
 
Police did not exactly agree. They ended up arresting her for battery with a deadly weapon.
 
"He's coming to my door," Hughes said. "This is my house. I'm not going to his house. He's coming here."
 
"What was she supposed to do?" asked her husband Jerry Hughes. "Let him kick in the door?"
 
Police tell 13 Action News they had evidence that Hughes planned to get into this altercation, which is part of the reason why she was arrested.