Ewing, Pennsylvania

From the Trenton (NJ) Trentonian of August 31, 2005

Store owner shoots thief in legs

A township liquor store owner hid inside in the darkness early yesterday and confronted a brazen burglar, hitting him with pepper spray, then shooting him in the legs.

Though the suspect, Patrick Falcey, managed to escape from Sherwood Liquor Fair at Spruce Street and Arctic Avenue, police later surrounded his house in Trenton and he surrendered.
…

Baran wouldn’t discuss the showdown inside his store at 6:15 a.m. Police said they were called to a burglary in progress, and when they responded, Baran told them he’d spent the night on guard sleeping in the store, after a recent spree of liquor store burglaries in the area.

"He was asleep behind the counter when he was startled awake by the sound of glass breaking," Smith reported.

"He activated the store’s silent alarm system and grabbed a can of Pepper Spray and a 9mm handgun. The burglar had his back turned to Baran, unaware of his presence. Baran purposely made a noise so the burglar would turn around and when he did so, he was sprayed in the face with pepper spray," Smith said.

Baran and the burglar struggled, and when the suspect picked up the hammer he’d used to break the front-door glass, Baran squeezed off two shots, Smith said.

"The burglar then made his way to the door saying something about being shot," Smith said.

"The burglar ... pulled himself into his car and as he did so Baran fired two more shots into the engine compartment of the car." But the burglar fled the scene.

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