‘I would have killed him if I had to,’ mother says after shooting home invader

The man started banging on the front door of Ashley Jones' home around 6 a.m., the Independent Mail reported.

She could hear two hushed voices, although no one answered when she asked if there was anybody there from a second-floor window, WHNS reported.

Surveillance video showed a couple at the front door, WSPA reported.

"He was like, 'This is my house, let me in. I'm not going to hurt you' kind of thing, and I was like 'What do you want?'" Jones told WSPA.

She called 911, grabbed her gun and waited at the top of the steps.

She saw a man in a red shirt tapping on a window near the front door. He tried to get in through the back door and the garage before re-approaching the front door, WHSN reported.

The man kicked in the door, and Jones pulled the trigger, striking him in the shoulder.

"Something just came over me, and I got calm," she told WHNS. "My heart slowed down and I got focused. I told myself, 'If he comes in here, you can't let him get past your doorstep. You have three young children to protect.'"

The man tried to run, but law enforcement arrived and took him into custody, WSPA reported.

He was then taken to a hospital where he is in stable condition, Anderson County Sheriff Chad McBride told WHNS. The couple caught on surveillance video at the home will be charged, WHNS reported.

“I would’ve killed him if I had to,” Jones told WHNS.

Jones, who was reluctant to buy a firearm a few months ago, was thankful to have it, she told WHNS.

"If I didn't have a weapon, I wouldn't have been able to fight him off," Jones told WHNS.