Donna Hopper, 66, of Redding grabs her gun and her phone as she confronts him.
Hopper fired that gun for the first time in her life to scare off the intruder.
Two shots didn't do the trick, so she fired a third shot.
The suspect, 37-year-old Jesse Theis, was shot dead.
The 911 operator can be heard telling Hopper to put the gun down and wait for police to arrive.
She was later cleared of any wrongdoing.
