{"id":1226,"date":"2020-02-03T11:35:11","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T15:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/?p=1226"},"modified":"2020-02-03T11:35:12","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T15:35:12","slug":"armed-female-real-estate-agent-shoots-attacker-at-open-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/armed-female-real-estate-agent-shoots-attacker-at-open-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Armed Female Real Estate Agent Shoots Attacker at Open House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Thanks to a concealed carrying female real estate agent, she survived an attack from a man who showed up at her open house. Dawna Hetzler, a 14-year veteran of the real estate industry, arrived at her showing at the Aspen Condominiums for a scheduled open house on a Sunday starting at 11:30 am.&nbsp;&nbsp;Her attacker, Ernest Chrisman, arrived at the door expressing interest in the property. He was asking detailed questions about the home. Hetzler said that he was asking questions that seemed believable including how long it had been on the market, about loans he may qualify for and other related topics to the showing.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube aligncenter wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Realtor says having a firearm saved her life during an attack at an open house\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UMLvaEEY_HQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>Real Estate Agent Shoots Armed Attacker at Open House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>From there, she toured the downstairs with Chrisman. The two went upstairs to complete the showing. When they arrived in the master bedroom, Chrisman pulled out a knife and cornered the agent. Next, he pulled out a rope and ordered her to go into the closet and to take off her ring. From there, she drew her firearm, but as she did so, he was able to spray her in the eyes with bear spray. Blinded and in pain, she fired off a shot. Whether or not the bullet hit him is unknown, but he fled away from the scene.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After he left, she ran downstairs trying to find her phone despite her vision being obscured. She called 911 and was taken to the hospital. Hetzler says that her life was in danger and without the firearm, she may not have survived the altercation. She holds a concealed carry permit for these instances.&nbsp;\u201cI have heard about fearing open houses. I don\u2019t live my life in fear. I live my life in faith. Faith trumps fear,\u201d Hetzler said. \u201cFor my fellow realtors, we always hear take two to an open house. Two is not enough, you need to know what you\u2019re going to do in any certain circumstance and be able to act on that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The attacker has been arrested and was charged with first-degree burglary, aggravated robbery and second-degree assault. Chrisman was later sentenced to 16 years in prison for the attack on the female agent.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hetlzer is now using her experience to help empower other agents to protect themselves. She is teaming up with the Denver Police Academy to teach others about the training that she credits with saving her own life. She had been training with her weapon for six years prior to this attack.&nbsp;\u201cHaving a firearm saved my life that day, but it was also the training, because it was muscle memory, it was knowing the things that you would or wouldn\u2019t do in a given situation, knowing your mindset, before you are ever in a that situation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her goal is to help others to think differently about these situations and the world we live in in order to protect themselves the best they can as female real estate agents.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 ez-toc-wrap-left counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">In this Article:<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/armed-female-real-estate-agent-shoots-attacker-at-open-house\/#Protecting_Ones_Self_From_Being_Attacked\" >Protecting One\u2019s Self From Being Attacked<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/armed-female-real-estate-agent-shoots-attacker-at-open-house\/#Industry_Feelings_About_Safety\" >Industry Feelings About Safety<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Protecting_Ones_Self_From_Being_Attacked\"><\/span>Protecting One\u2019s Self From Being Attacked<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The risk of being robbed or attacked when alone is high. This is why so many real estate companies don\u2019t allow agents to go to open houses without others present, whether another agent, a home inspector or the sellers of the home. Women are more likely to be attacked because they are seen as weak and unable to defend themselves. Something that wasn\u2019t true for Dawna due to the training and preparations she took to ensure her safety was guaranteed as a female real estate agent.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She isn\u2019t the only agent who has begun to carry a self-defense weapon. Many others also use a variety of apps that allow the authorities to be alerted with the touch of button. Some of these apps include HomeSnap, SentriSmart, Life 360, GPS Phone Track and Find my iPhone.&nbsp;&nbsp;Safety alert buttons that look like key fobs are also be used since they are discreet too.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When it comes to protecting yourself as a real estate agent, no matter your gender, you should be proactive about adopting safety practices that will keep your livelihood intact.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Industry_Feelings_About_Safety\"><\/span>Industry Feelings About Safety<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A National Association of Realtors <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nar.realtor\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/2019-member-safety-report-09-24-2019.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"survey (opens in a new tab)\">survey<\/a> in 2019 on safety. 21% of men and 40% of women said that they have experienced a situation that made them fearful of their safety. 35% of men and 49% of women carry some type of weapon, whether pepper spray (18%), guns (14%),  pocket knives (7%), taser (5%) and others.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many real estate organizations have hosted crime prevention seminars and self-defense classes. Some other suggestions for hosting safe open houses such as walking behind guests instead of in front of them, having a safe for valuables and more. Also, many realtors suggest keeping one\u2019s phone in their hand and calling someone if a situation becomes problematic, so someone knows something isn\u2019t right, just in case.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another suggestion is to never work with someone that isn\u2019t preapproved for a home loan. This will prevent those that have bad intentions from getting access to you. Apps such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forewarn.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Forewarn (opens in a new tab)\">Forewarn<\/a> are helping agents to see if potential clients have a history of violent behavior. <a href=\"https:\/\/truststamp.ai\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Trust Stamp (opens in a new tab)\">Trust Stamp<\/a> helps agents authenticate identities. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homesnap.com\/pro\/safety\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Homesnap Safety Timer (opens in a new tab)\">Homesnap Safety Timer<\/a> sets a timer for a GPS location such as an open house.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These are just some of the many things that can be done to protect real estate agents from danger as much as possible.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thanks to a concealed carrying female real estate agent, she survived an attack from a man who showed up at her open house. Dawna Hetzler, a 14-year veteran of the real estate industry, arrived at&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[185],"tags":[201,203,202,200,150,198,199,204],"class_list":["post-1226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-article","tag-female-agent","tag-female-investor","tag-female-realtor","tag-open-house","tag-real-estate-agent","tag-realtor","tag-safety","tag-violence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1226"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1232,"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226\/revisions\/1232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propertyonion.com\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}