Rome woman fights back against burglar

ROME, Ga. - A Floyd County woman made a burglar regret targeting her home. She sprayed him in the face with mace and then shot him, according to police, but it didn’t stop there.

As the two struggled at the home on Asbury Lane, Saturday, her friend grabbed the burglar, and wrestled him to the ground, holding him down for police.

The 21-year-old Rome woman didn’t want FOX 5 News to disclose her name for fear of retaliation. She said she came home to her first-floor apartment around 10 p.m. Saturday and heard noises inside. That’s when she told FOX 5 News she grabbed her keychain with mace and went to check it out.

She saw her window busted out and her AC knocked out. She then spotted the burglar, grabbing her stuff and trying to push her dog out.

She said that’s when she used the mace on the burglar, whom police have identified as David Ray Hudgens. He screamed, tried to wipe the mace off of his face and came at the woman. Wednesday, the splatter from the mace was still clear on her walls as well as holes put there during the struggle.

The woman said the burglar had a gun hidden behind her TV. She said he reached for it, but she used mace on him one more time, hoping for the best.

Despite the mace and the struggle, the man got back up and kept coming at her. Her screams through all of this prompted her boyfriend and friend to come to her door. She managed to get her front door open and she and the burglar fell out. That's when her best friend tackled the burglar.

Hudgens was booked into the Floyd County Jail. Records indicate he has a previous arrest on an unrelated burglary charge last year.