Pamela Jean Dawson wanted to let her renter — who she says had just “manhandled” her — know that she meant business. So the 51-year-old Hamilton woman pointed a gun at his face and pulled the trigger.

Dawson, of 1331 Campbell Ave., is charged with felonious assault — a second-degree felony — for shooting 43-year-old Donald Knapp in the face at the residence on Valentine’s Day morning. She was arraigned Friday in Hamilton Municipal Court and a Feb. 26 preliminary hearing date was set.

According to a Hamilton police report, Dawson shot Knapp with the intent to seriously injure him. But in an exclusive interview with the JournalNews on Thursday night, just hours after bonding out of jail, Dawson said the shooting was an accident and that she only meant to scare Knapp who had assaulted her.

“I just wanted him to know I meant business,” Dawson sobbed, adding she wanted people to know she is “not a monster.”

Dawson said she let Knapp move into her home after he had been kicked out of his residence three weeks earlier. She did it, she said, because she felt sorry for him, but later “found out everything he said was a lie.”

On Thursday morning, Dawson said Knapp begged her to take him to a pharmacy to get medication and then to the bank to get money he owed her for rent. While returning home from the errands, Dawson claimed Knapp began making comments about her ex-husband and an argument ensued.

She said Knapp locked her out of her truck, threw her to the ground and assaulted her. Eventually, Dawson said, she was able to get back in the vehicle and drive home.

“He came walking back into the house. I told him to leave,” Dawson said. “I wasn’t going to have him in my house after he manhandled me. He started yelling unlawful eviction.”

That’s when, she said, she went to get her father’s handgun to scare Knapp.

“I had told my ex-husband to fix it so the first (bullet) chamber was empty, so if it went off, no one would be hit,” Dawson sobbed. “I have never shot a gun in my life. I didn’t know it would shoot. I thought the first chamber was empty.”

Knapp was transported by medical helicopter to University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where no information was available Friday about his condition. According to the police report, Knapp had bullet holes in his nose and mouth. Officers said he was alert and talking at the scene.

Dawson faces two to eight years in prison if convicted of the charge against her.