Drain, Oregon

From the Eugene Register-Guard of March 23, 2005

Gun-toting store owner confronts burglar

Robert Poage was relaxing at home Monday night when he heard an unusual sound coming from his adjacent convenience store.

It was the clatter of coins hitting the floor.

Poage went to investigate and found a burglar looting the cash register at Cold Springs Store on Umpqua Highway 99, which Poage has owned for 14 years.

The burglar wore a ski mask and held a tire iron in one hand. He was stuffing money into his pockets.

"I opened the door and hollered at him," Poage, 54, recounted Tuesday. "He turned and ran."

Poage followed the burglar out the door and saw him climb into a green 1996 Pontiac Grand Am. Poage ordered him out, but the man started the engine.

That's when Poage pulled out his .22-caliber handgun.

"I fired at his right front tire eight times," Poage said. "Then he drove off."

Poage's daughter had called 911, and a Douglas County sheriff's deputy arrived as the burglar sped away.

Poage briefed the deputy on the evening's events, and the deputy began his search.

He found the Grand Am parked a few blocks from the store. A man dressed all in black was walking away from the car.

The deputy stopped the man, who was carrying a black ski mask and some cash.

Deputies found a tire iron inside the vehicle, which appeared to have been damaged by gunshots.

The deputy arrested Jonathan William Graham, 26, of Roseburg, who was being held in the Douglas County Jail on charges of burglary, theft and criminal mischief.

Poage said he would have done things differently if he'd had time to stop and think.

"I would have brought my shotgun instead of my .22," he said.