http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/sfl-home-invasion-091909-story,0,2290571.story

The old timer was dong great until the sheriff arrived.

91-year-old man confronts, holds home intruder at gunpoint in Lake Worth

   
By Michael LaForgia Palm Beach Post

3:00 p.m. EDT, September 19, 2009

   

LAKE WORTH - A burglar early this morning clambered over a backyard fence on a quiet block on the city's west side. He picked the wrong house.

He made it maybe a couple of steps before Rettt the dog, a mixture of Rottweiler and Doberman pinscher, charged, tearing the intruder's shirt from his back in a ferocious growling attack.

This gave homeowner Robert E. Thompson, 91, time to jump out of bed, grab his gun, a .38-caliber revolver loaded with hollow-point bullets, and to phone the police.

Then he went out back to let the guy know how he felt about home invaders. He raised the gun and shouted out in the darkness. He thought there might be three or four of them. He didn't care.

"The funny part was I didn't have any clothes on," said Thompson, a World War II veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart during combat tours in Europe. "I was standing out there with a .38 in my hand, and I was stark naked."

Already terrified at the dog, the burglar, who looked to be no older than 20, took a step toward the nude 91-year-old, and that was it for Thompson.

"I fired a warning shot," he said, and the burglar froze. "I wasn't going to let the guy get within six or eight feet of me. He spoke only Spanish, and I couldn't understand anything he was saying. I think he was more scared then I was, really."

And so they stayed that way, the hapless young burglar, who appeared, authorities said later, to be very drunk, and the naked old homeowner, his head cool, his revolver leveled, until Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies showed up.

Thompson would've made it out of the whole ordeal completely unscathed if, when the deputies told them to drop the gun, it hadn't accidentally gone off, sending a tiny bullet fragment ricocheting off the concrete pool deck and into Thompson's right shin.

He barely felt it, but the deputies called paramedics and insisted he get checked out at Delray Medical Center. He was back home by midday, recounting the incident.

The burglar, who identified himself as Jose Pasqual, 26, of no fixed address was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail on a burglary charge.

"I have a real bad feeling about these guys. I don't tolerate them. I would've shot him if he kept coming," Thompson said. "You've got to protect yourself."

"Get off my lawn"!  

+1 for the good guys.

Post this in GD under "The naked Gunman returns". (I'm sure he'll love it.)

"when the deputies told them to drop the gun, it hadn't accidentally gone off"

Thompson would've made it out of the whole ordeal completely unscathed if, when the deputies told them to drop the gun, it hadn't accidentally gone off he hadn't pulled the trigger.

Fixed it

So the guy had a ND while the cops tried to disarm him.   I don't think I would put all the blame on the 81 year old guy. I've seen lots of cops handle guns like its a bar of soap.

91 years old and the LEOs should have better care of the old man when they arrived at his home rather than to tell him to "drop the gun" since he already had the situation under control.

props for the old guy

Oh that poor, young, hapless boy who couldn't even understand English.... threatened by evil hollow-point bullets....

Although, that article is more fair than most printed by the sentinel....

I'm just amazed the old guy was able to handle the situation.  I went by the old folks home to see my 86 year-old grandmother Saturday and she can't even get out of a wheel chair.  Granted, she's 6 feet tall and her height has caused her some serious skeletal and joint problems over the past few years.  I love the the old man was stark naked out there and holds the dude down with a .38.  Just when you think there's no more justice in the world.  Stories like that just tickle me pink.

Score yet another one for the good guys!

p.s. Has anyone but me been noticing an increase of stories pertaining to potential burglars being confronted by home owners during the night lately?  Seems people trying to break into houses whilst home owners are sleeping has been a little more frequent than is comfortable, lately.