A New Mexico grandmother is being hailed as a hero after she shot down a runaway criminal who stormed into her home, derailing what was supposed to be a tranquil movie night with her granddaughter.
“Get back. Get back. I have a gun. Get back. Get back,” Anissa Tinnin warned the stranger before firing.
Ten minutes before chaos erupted, Tinnin and her 4-year-old grandchild were singing and dancing along to the Taylor Swift Eras Tour film.
She described the evening with her granddaughter as “extra special,” noting that they shared a meal together and enjoyed baths before plopping down on the couch for the movie.
“We had our popcorn and M&M’s dancing and singing along when our lives were about to suddenly change,” Tinnin wrote on Facebook.
That’s when the stranger — identified by cops as 34-year-old Joseph Rivera — burst through the door in a desperate bid to hide from police.
Albuquerque police were chasing Rivera when they caught him allegedly driving in a stolen car that night. They deployed spike strips to stop him, but Rivera continued driving on the rims of the vehicle until he crashed.
That’s when he took off on foot, hopped a fence into Tinnin’s yard and walked right into her home.
“I jumped over this couch and we met there by the front door … That’s when he grabbed me and was upset and said to give him my keys. He said he didn’t want to go to jail. He did threaten to hurt my granddaughter and me,” Tinnin recalled to KRQE.
The 45-year-old grandmother tried to calm the alleged criminal down, but ultimately handed the key fob over to him so that she could get him to leave her home.
“I told him to not hurt us, that I would do whatever he wanted. I would give him keys, money, whatever it took,” said Tinnin.
As he headed to the car, Tinnin dialed 911 — a call which captured her soothing her young grandchild, who she sent to hide in the bedroom.
“I need you to be really brave right now. I got to go. Stay right here in the bedroom … It’s okay baby,” Tinnin can be heard saying between the girl’s cries.
The fearless grandmother grabbed her gun in case the burglar returned — which he did moments later as he heard police sirens draw closer to the home.
Rivera allegedly burst through the locked front door and charged at Tinnin despite her pleas to stop.
“Get back. get back. I have a gun. Get back. Get back. I will f–king shoot you,” Tinnin warned moments before pulling the trigger.
A wounded Rivera asked the woman why she fired, to which she responded: “Because you’re in my f–king house!”
Tinnin then offered to help put pressure on Rivera’s gunshot wound and bring him water, but warned that she wouldn’t hesitate to shoot him again if he tried any tricks.
Police arrived minutes later, dragging Rivera out of the home.
“I do believe we had a guardian angel here with us and I do firmly believe that God was watching over us,” said Tinnin.
Rivera was charged with burglary, attempting to commit a felony and auto theft — on top of five previous felony convictions for previous burglaries and auto thefts.
He had been wanted for a prior charge at the time of the latest arrest, which he failed to appear in court for when a judge released him on bail.
“This city is a mess. Criminals are ruining innocent people’s lives everyday. I’m sick of keeping quiet about the disaster this city’s leadership has created,” Tinnin chided in her Facebook post.
