West Bloomfield, Michigan

From Livonia’s HomeTownLife.com of July 9, 2006

Senior with pacemaker fights off intruders

Fight, die or give in.

Faced with those choices, a 61-year-old West Bloomfield man parried away a shotgun barrel as it fired, forcing a buckshot load of lead over his shoulder. The township man then drew his own handgun and shot an intruder inside his garage in the 4800 block of Trailview at 3 a.m. July 4.

"I love this guy," said West Bloomfield Lt. Tim Diamond. "He made a move on the gun with his arm in a sling. That's a guy with cojones."

The resident's arm was in a sling because a pacemaker was installed in his chest the week before. Despite all that, his bullet struck the intruder. But the resident, who owns a bar in Detroit, soon found out there were actually three would-be robbers waiting for him when he returned home from work. A struggle ensued with the resident trying to fend off two of the intruders. The suspects eventually got control of both the handgun and the shotgun.

"It was a calamity of errors," said Diamond. "There could have been two people killed."

Shot and bleeding profusely, one suspect needed medical attention fast so all three fled taking the guns with them.

Two men dropped off a man with a bullet wound at the emergency room of Providence Hospital in Southfield later that morning.

Coincidentally, a West Bloomfield police officer was sitting in the same emergency room. The attempted robbery victim complained of chest pains and also suffered a cut finger so police took him to Providence. The resident identified a man walking into the emergency room as the same person who tried to rob him a short time before.

Police weren't able to question the suspect as medical staff whisked him off for several hours of emergency surgery. His family hired an attorney by the time the anesthesia wore off and police didn't interview him that day.

Police later identified additional suspects through hospital videotapes and telephone records.

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