Vegas
05-26-2010, 08:20 PM
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2320350,home-invasion-suspect-shot-052610.article
An 80-year-old Army veteran shot and killed an armed man who’d broken in to the two-flat where he and his wife live in East Garfield Park early this morning and fired at him.
He did what his son said “he had to do” after having vowed not to be victimized again following a robbery months earlier.
Neither the man nor his wife was hurt.
He was questioned by police and released without any charges being filed.
The dead man has a history of drug and weapons convictions. Police said they are continuing to investigate.
When he returned home, the man, 80 — who walked with the aid of a walking stick and wore a T-shirt emblazoned with President Obama’s face and name — told a reporter he didn’t want to talk about what had happened.
His 57-year-old son, though, said his father was “sorry that it happened, but it had to be him or us.”
The son said the intruder, armed with a pistol, came in through a rear window and ran up a rear staircase, banging on his locked door before running downstairs and being shot in a confrontation with the older man.
The intruder shot first before the veteran fired back and killed him, the son said and police confirmed.
“Evidently, he missed,” the son said of the intruder. "My father had no choice. It was him or the other guy.
An 80-year-old Army veteran shot and killed an armed man who’d broken in to the two-flat where he and his wife live in East Garfield Park early this morning and fired at him.
He did what his son said “he had to do” after having vowed not to be victimized again following a robbery months earlier.
Neither the man nor his wife was hurt.
He was questioned by police and released without any charges being filed.
The dead man has a history of drug and weapons convictions. Police said they are continuing to investigate.
When he returned home, the man, 80 — who walked with the aid of a walking stick and wore a T-shirt emblazoned with President Obama’s face and name — told a reporter he didn’t want to talk about what had happened.
His 57-year-old son, though, said his father was “sorry that it happened, but it had to be him or us.”
The son said the intruder, armed with a pistol, came in through a rear window and ran up a rear staircase, banging on his locked door before running downstairs and being shot in a confrontation with the older man.
The intruder shot first before the veteran fired back and killed him, the son said and police confirmed.
“Evidently, he missed,” the son said of the intruder. "My father had no choice. It was him or the other guy.