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12/22/99 — 6:56 AM
Armed widow foils burglary
By JOSE PATINO GIRONA of The Tampa Tribune
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TAMPA – A woman who shot a burglar in the arm hadn’t fired a gun in almost 30 years.

The shattering sound awoke her just after midnight.

Betty Kulas immediately walked into the living room of her modest Palm River home and saw broken glass from the front door. She retreated to the bedroom to call her daughter next door.

While on the phone, Kulas, 62, saw a shadow on the kitchen table. She grabbed the handgun she routinely keeps on her nightstand.

She eased by the bedroom door, saw the back of a man near the front door and yelled: “What the hell are you doing in my house?” Then she fired four or five shots, striking the man once in the left arm as he ran out of the home.

A half-hour later Tuesday, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office arrested 25-year-old David Stafford in a nearby field and charged him with burglary of an occupied residence. After being treated for a gunshot wound, he was taken to the Orient Road Jail with bail set at $7,500. His criminal record includes burglary.

Some neighbors said they believe the suspect was the same man seen earlier in the area, between Brandon and Tampa, knocking on doors asking for money and a ride.

Stafford of 710 S. 50th St. No. 7, Palm River, allegedly threw a rock through the front door window. When Kulas walked out the first time, he was still outside. He then pushed the door open and tried to take a Christmas gift and a VCR. As he rushed out, he left the VCR behind.

“He kept running,” Kulas said. “I didn’t know if I had hit him or not. They [sheriff's officials] found blood, and I got scared I had killed him.”

She found the gift the burglar grabbed, a porcelain bride and groom for her daughter, on the front porch, damaged by one of the gunshots.

Almost 30 years ago, Kulas learned how to shoot a gun. She said she was being stalked by a man while living in Lutz. Her husband, Clifford, taught her to shoot, fearing police wouldn’t arrest the suspect.

But without an interest in guns, Kulas, who works as a phone technician for Precision Communications of Tampa and bowls in a league, never shot again.

Her husband died in 1990, and her son bought her a .25-caliber semiautomatic handgun for protection. Often, she would put it on her nightstand and in the morning, secure it.

With a nervous tone in her voice and tears in her eyes Tuesday afternoon, Kulas said she has been concerned about someone breaking in to her home on South 58th Street.

“I just did it as a reaction,” Kulas said of shooting the burglar.

A neighbor said she isn’t surprised Kulas fired because she is a strong woman. Her family was also proud.

“She was brave,” said her daughter, Brenda Hite. “If it was me, I don’t think I could have done it.”

Still, with all the praise, Kulas said she wished it would never have happened. “I wouldn’t have been able to live if I had killed him. He has done wrong and probably will get out and do wrong again. But it will have to be somebody else who will shoot and kill him.”

Jose Patino Girona covers the sheriff’s office and can be reached at jpatino@ tampatrib.comor at (813) 657-4534.