Thursday, November 20, 2003

St. Louis, Missouri



Would you believe this if someone put this in a movie? He's watching the movie Death Wish when the bad guy forces entry and threatens the shooter's wife?



From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of November 20, 2003



Man, 73, kills robber holding shears to wife's neck



Police officers privately

praised the outcome

of North County shooting




A man in north St. Louis County was home watching "Death Wish," a movie about a vigilante who hunts down criminals, when he saw his wife held hostage by a robber holding shears at her neck.



Allowed to get his wallet, the homeowner retrieved his pistol instead and shot the intruder to death, county police said Wednesday after sorting out details of the previous evening's incident.



...



An intruder, 26, broke into the home through a basement window and tore down a curtain to tie over his face as a mask. The woman encountered him in the basement and he forced her up the stairs to confront her husband.



Police said the husband, 73, was watching the movie on TV when the stranger approached, demanding money and holding 4-inch shears to the throat of the woman, also 73.



The homeowner told the intruder he had to get his wallet from the bedroom, but he got a handgun instead. When he emerged, she pulled away and he opened fire.



The robber grabbed the wife again and pulled her through the front door with him, but then let her go and ran. He collapsed across the street, where he was pronounced dead.



The woman was treated for minor injuries at a hospital and released.



The dead robber was identified through fingerprints, but his name was withheld pending notification of relatives.



Privately, police officers praised the outcome, saying that burglars should take a lesson from it.

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