Del City Woman Who Fatally Shot Intruder Speaking Out To Clear Her Name

A woman who fatally shot a home intruder last month says the district attorney is not pursuing charges. So now she’s speaking out to clear her name.  But, she says, more importantly, to give the victim’s family some peace. 

Christy Birdsall says she was staying with a friend at a home located on Southeast 14th Street when Jason Grandstaff began to force his way in. 

Earlier that morning she says Grandstaff slashed her tires. Birdsall says she barricaded herself in a bedroom and grabbed a 22-caliber pistol as Grandstaff broke through the door.

“He said ‘what are you going to do shoot me? I ain’t scared.’  And at that point the gun went off,” Birdsall said. “I saw a puff of smoke and heard a bang and he said it again, he said, 'I’m not scared.'  Then he just kinda wobbled a little bit and fell over next to the table.”

Birdsall says when Grandstaff hit the floor, she ran outside and fell to her knees on the front lawn.

“I said help I’ve shot Jason. He was my friend. Drugs did a lot of bad things to him,” Birdsall said.  “I never wanted to do that.”

Birdsall remembers Grandstaff's mother arriving on the scene.

“I heard her scream when she was told.  And my heart broke. I didn’t need to hear that. I didn’t want to hurt her.  I didn’t want to hurt him,” She recalled.  “I didn’t mean to shoot him.  I’m sorry Connie.  I’m really sorry.  I didn’t want to take her son’s life.”

But Birdsall says she had no choice.

“He had a history of being abusive to women.  So I wasn’t going to say me too. I said hell no not me,” she said. 

Since the shooting Birdsall says people have been harassing her and her children, calling her a cold blooded killer.  She says she’s not.  And every day she says she has to live with this. 

”I thought how could I have done this?”

News 9 spoke with District Attorney David Prater Sunday. He says he didn’t personally decide not to pursue charges, but he says someone in his office may have.