Whitehall, Pennsylvania

From the Allentown Morning Call of April 5, 2007

Whitehall Twp. resident fires shots at would-be intruder

In what appears to have been an attempted home invasion, a 32-year-old resident fired two shots at a man who he said popped out of the bushes in front of his Whitehall Township home armed with a handgun early Saturday, according to a police report.

Gaby J. Safi, of 1990 Linden Lane, reported to police that the man appeared in his yard shortly after Safi arrived at the house. Safi managed to get inside his home and pulled out his .38-caliber revolver, which was in his waistband, and fired two shots through his door when he saw that the man was approaching his front door, pointing a gun, the report says. Safi missed both times, with one of the shots striking his own truck, but the man fled, police said.

Safi, who has a permit for the gun, told police that he had just come from visiting his father and playing cards in Allentown at 1:55 a.m. Saturday when he parked his vehicle next to his wife's car. He said he was unlocking his house door when the man jumped out from behind the bushes, which were about 10 feet away from him, according to the police report.

Safi said he saw that the man was pointing a gun at him and quickly entered his home, closing both the storm door and the solid front door, he told police. He said he could see through the door window that the man was still approaching, with what he believed to be a .45-caliber weapon.

After firing his gun, Safi said he went to the second floor of his house and yelled for his wife, who was asleep, to call police, the report says. He returned to the front door and noticed that the man had fled.

When police arrived, Safi was still holding the loaded gun. Police ordered him to drop the gun and later took it into custody, police said. Police searched his home and Safi said the only items that appeared to be missing were the keys he used to open the front door. An officer waited at the home while Safi had the locks replaced, the police report says.

Safi said he did not get a good look at the suspect since everything happened so fast, the report says.