HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. — What better place to go trick-or-treating than Ethel Griffin’s home, after all, she sells candy year round.
The teens who knocked on her door Halloween night pulled a rifle and shotgun on the candy lady, demanding cash.
“I said what you gonna do with that, I said is that part of your costume?” Griffin told WREG. “He had a mask on his face, so I couldn’t see his expression, and he was like I’m not playing with you, we came for the money.”
Her husband, Bruce, was in the next room.
She thought he was glued to the TV, but the former police officer heard every word.
“I was already leaning over like this, I had my hand on my gun, I was releasing the safety off it, I had my little drink and I come up and shot. When I came up and shot, as soon as I did he ducked.”
The teens ran off while Ethel Griffin called 911.
“In their quick haste to leave the home, they actually left their shotgun as well as their rifle in the living room,” Helena-West Helena’s Police Chief Virgil Green said.
Green said both weapons were empty and not in the best shape to fire anyway.
He said police still must send a message this won’t be tolerated.
“This is very rare, it puts a damper on the Halloween festivities, you have people cautious to open up their door,” Green said.
The Griffins said it has changed them, there will be no more teens trick-or-treating or buying candy at their home.
