No charges for Madera woman who shot man threatening husband with knife at Wal-Mart

The Madera County District Attorney’s Office will not file criminal charges against a woman who shot a man threatening her husband with a knife in a Wal-Mart parking lot, although she did not have a concealed weapons permit.

District Attorney Sally Moreno said Wednesday that the decision was reached based on the facts and that the office did not believe that it would be possible to prove criminal conduct on the part of the woman “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The shooting took place May 4 at the Wal-Mart at Cleveland Avenue and Highway 99. The Madera Police Department reported that an argument erupted between the woman’s husband and another man, who pulled out a knife and charged the husband.

The husband retreated about 30 feet and the woman, seated in a car, fired one round from a handgun, striking the knife-wielding man in the neck from the 30-foot distance.

The man was taken to Community Regional Medical Center.

Police did not release the names of any of the parties involved in the incident, and the condition of the man who was shot was never disclosed.

Arriving officers determined that the woman did not have a concealed weapons permit, but did not arrest her, instead referring the case to the district attorney.

This story was originally published June 17, 2021 at 8:55 AM.