Granny Gets Her Gun After She's Denied Kiss

92-year-old woman fires gun into would-be lover's home

A 92-year-old Florida woman is behind bars after she opened fire with her handgun on a neighbor's house after he refused to give her a kiss

Helen B. Staudinger has had a crush on neighbor Dwight Bettner since he moved in to the Fort McCoy neighborhood six months ago.

Bettner, nearly 40 years her junior at 53, had ignored the widow's advances.

"I told her I'm in a relationship," Bettner told the Ocala Star-Banner. "She has this idea that I'm supposed to be her man."

When Staudinger paid Bettner a visit Monday, she was again rebuffed. Bettner told the elderly woman to leave, but she refused until he gave her a kiss. Bettner declined, and Staudinger left angry.

So granny came back with her gun.

"I was standing in the bedroom talking on the phone when one of the bullets came into the bedroom," Bettner said. "The other three bullets hit the side of the house."

When police arrived, they found a .380 semi-automatic in her living room with a round in the chamber.

Staudinger told police that she had gone to talk to Bettner, and that even though she knew he had a girlfriend, she refused to leave until he gave her a kiss.

Bettner said Staudinger had cursed at him before and even tried to strangle a woman who she thought he was having an affair with.

Staudinger was charged with aggravated assault and shooting into an occupied dwelling and was being held in the Marion County Jail Monday.

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