Derek Condon appears inset against an image of the home in Blackfoot, Id. where he died while committing a violent robbery on March 13, 2024 (Bingham County Sheriff’s Office; Google Maps).
An octogenarian Idaho mother shot and killed a man in a harrowing, life-or-death situation after he broke into her home, attacked her, and threatened to kill her last month, according to law enforcement.
Christine Jenneiahn, 85, will not be prosecuted for the justifiable homicide of Derek Condon, 39, a case review by Bingham County Prosecuting Attorney Ryan Jolley published this week explains.
“This case presents an easy analysis of self-defense and justifiable homicide,” the document reads. “It also presents one of the most heroic acts of self-preservation I have heard of. Condon was still in the act of his violent home invasion when Christine chose to engage him with deadly force.”
The incident occurred during the early morning hours on March 13, the prosecutor said. At the time, the only other person “lawfully in her home” was Jenneiahn’s disabled son, according to the document. An initial press release from the Bingham County Sheriff’s Office noted the crime occurred in Blackfoot — a medium-sized city and the county seat.
At around 2 a.m., Condon startled the woman awake. She found herself facing a man “dressed in a military jacket, black ski mask, and pointing a gun and flashlight at her,” the prosecutor determined.
“Subsequent investigation indicates a strong likelihood that Condon struck Christine in the head as she lay in her bed, as there was blood on the pillow and floor in her room where she had been sleeping,” Jolley added in the case review. “She also reported he had hit her in the head at some point during the incident but was unsure of exactly when that took place.”
Jenneiahn quickly found herself on the losing side of the ordeal as the man took her into her own living room at gunpoint, handcuffed her to a wooden chair, and demanded to know the location of her valuables, the prosecutor said. The woman said she did not have much to steal — prompting Condon to angrily lodge the gun against her head.
“After telling Condon that there were two safes downstairs in the home he left her handcuffed in the living room and went downstairs multiple times and rummaged through several rooms in the house,” the document goes on.
At some point during the would-be reaving, the intruder is said to have discovered the presence of Jenneiahn’s son — which apparently incensed him. Condon went on to scold the woman for not mentioning the disabled man — and repeatedly threatened to kill her.
As the robbery went on, Jenneiahn was eventually able to drag herself — while still handcuffed to the chair — to the side of her bed and reach underneath a pillow. There, she kept a .357 magnum. Then, she dragged herself back to where the assailant had left her and hid her gun in between an armrest and couch cushion to wait out the terror.
The woman told law enforcement her memory of the pivotal moments became hazy but after receiving an additional threat on her life, she considered it a “now or never” moment and then reached for the gun, drawing it from its hiding place, and striking Condon with two shots that would ultimately kill him, Jolley relayed.
The home invader, however, emptied an entire magazine in response, the prosecutor said. Jenneiahn was struck in her abdomen, leg, arm, and chest. And then she fell to the floor — where she stayed for some 10 hours before her son later brought her a phone so she could call 911. The woman miraculously survived her multiple wounds.
Sheriff’s deputies arrived just after 12:15 p.m. and helped save her life.
The prosecutor’s investigation goes through Gem State law on self-defense at length — and ultimately concluded that Jenneiahn was well within her rights to shoot and kill Condon.
“He had told Christine that he would kill her multiple times,” Jolley’s statement goes on. “He had broken into her home in the middle of the night, handcuffed her to a chair, and struck her with his firearm. Her disabled son was downstairs in his room. She is also 85 years old. Any reasonable person would believe it necessary to defend themselves or their disabled child under such circumstances.”
Had the man who broke in through a window using a screwdriver survived the shooting, he would be facing multiple felonies including attempted murder and kidnapping, the prosecutor said.
“That Christine survived this encounter is truly incredible,” Jolley said. “Her grit, determination, and will to live appear to be what saved her that night. Absent a clear attempt by Condon to retreat from the residence or surrender, which based on the evidence clearly did not occur, Christine was justified in taking any and all means necessary to defend herself and her son that night.”
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