The Listin Diario reports that the woman who killed four men last week acted in self-defense and is not likely to be tried in the justice system. District Attorney for the province of Santo Domingo, Eddy Olivares, declared that Maria Elena Santana acted in what he called ?legitimate (self) defense? and, therefore, will not be subject to prosecution. According to the police officials, on Thursday night four heavily armed individuals posing as police broke into Santana?s house in Villa Faro, which she occupied with her 60-year-old husband Arismendy Marmolejos and her 15-year-old daughter. The intruders said that if the family kept calm, everything would be alright. When the home invaders were startled by shots heard in the street, Santana was able to pick up a 12-gauge shotgun that she kept in the house and fire five shots, killing four of the intruders. The woman had a permit for the Mossberg. The police have identified Victor Manuel Martinez, a resident of the Capotillo neighborhood, and Miguel Angel Soriano, a resident of the Hoyo de Chulin barrio, with a police sheet. The following day, law officials identified another of the deceased as Pantaleon Florian Escalante, the son of a police officer who works in the Robbery Division. According to Santana, the four dead men were accompanied by three more individuals who fled the scene in a Honda Accord.
Subsequent reports in HOY indicate the deaths may not have been completely attributable to Santana?s shotgun, but rather to their own inept shooting. Forensic studies will reveal the true cause of death of each of the four, while reports circulated that one 9mm bullet had been removed from one of the bodies.