Drugs can cause people to do some bizarre things. This incident started as a road rage incident, which turned into what seems like an attempted burglary and then a violent attack. Luckily, no one, including the attacker, was injured.
This past Sunday morning, a woman was driving north on Highway 93 in Missoula County, Montana. She then noticed a man, Robert Lewis Washburn, tailgating her who then pulled in front of her vehicle and slowed down.
Sounds like your routine road rage incident? Unfortunately, that’s now where it ended.
She decided to turn around, but Washburn followed her.
“Washburn’s vehicle followed her and twice tried running her off the road, she told the police. At one point, Washburn’s vehicle got in front of her again and reversed into the woman’s vehicle, she said.” via missoulian.com
She then decided to drive home to get help. Washburn continued to follow her and reportedly drove into a staircase leading up to the residence.
The woman’s uncle, who was home at the time, came out and found Washburn attempting to break into the side of the house “on the garage roof.” How did he get in the garage roof? And why was he trying to break through a wall into the house?
Again, I’ll just mention one word: Meth
The woman’s uncle and the attacker exchanged words, and the scuffle ensued.
“According to Jenkins’ account, Washburn pulled a two-foot section of gutter off of the roof and came at Jenkins; Jenkins picked up a sprinkler, and the two began swinging at each other, although no one was injured in the exchange.”
This is when the woman came out of the house with a handgun and gave it to her uncle. Then she got her own handgun, and both of them held the attacker at gunpoint until police arrived.
Once police were on the scene, they found a syringe in Washburn’s pocket, who said it was for meth. I mean, what else would it be for? 🤣
Washburn was charged with five felonies and a misdemeanor.
As I said earlier, luckily, no one was harmed, and they were able to stop the attacker until police arrived thanks to the quick thinking on the woman’s part to grab the guns.
Now my only question here is, “Why did she have to go grab the guns?”
Perhaps she doesn’t have a Montana Concealed Weapons Permit. If she doesn’t, maybe this is a wake-up call for her to get one. She had enough time to retrieve a handgun from the house this time, but you might not always have the pleasure of time. And most likely, you won’t.
This is why carrying a gun on your person is essential to being able to protect yourself in situations like these. What if she wasn’t able to get home? What if he ran her off the road like he was trying to do and she was trapped in her car?
These are all things to think about when reading stories like these so we can be better prepared ourselves.
