Anchorage, Alaska

From Anchorage‘s KTUU.com of September 17, 2004

Don’t mess with old lady and her shotgun

An 18-year-old man is behind bars, charged with attempted burglary Thursday morning in a Fairview neighborhood. Police arrested him after he was apprehended by the resident of the home he invaded -- an angry 70-year-old woman.

It’s normally a quiet neighborhood, with Shiloh Baptist Temple only a block away. For some reason, the teen targeted this house in broad daylight, apparently ignoring the “Dog in Yard” sign, and soon found out he was messing with the wrong lady.

Just another Thursday morning, and 70-year-old Edna Brackney came home a little earlier than usual. As she reached her door, she saw the deadbolt had been broken.

“I knew something because of the door, that we had been burglarized.”

She called 911. “Nothing was disturbed in the kitchen,” Brackney said. “Nothing disturbed in the living room. I was calling my dog because I was worried about him.”

Six-year-old Sam the poodle smelled the intruder, hiding in the hallway bathroom. “Sammy’s a good boy. He showed me where that guy was, yes, sir. ‘Till the dog growled I didn't know he was in there. Then I pulled the door shut.”

Brackney was in no mood to leave. She stood her ground, holding her gun -- “a Brazilian stagecoach shotgun” -- pointed down the hallway toward the door 10 feet away.

“I was too mad. Soon as you step through that door, I will shoot,” she told the teen. “The cops are coming. You better sit down.”

“It’s loaded and I know how to use it. And down the hallway, there's nothing you can hit but what you're aiming for.”

Brackney says her home was burglarized nine years ago. This time she was ready.

“When we bought this at a second-hand store, a policeman was there and showed us how to use it.”

Brackney held the intruder there until police arrived. Friday, 18-year-old Lee Guerra was arraigned at the Anchorage Jail, charged with attempted burglary.

“The police thanked me,” Brackney said. “They said they knew him and they thanked me and they said I did a good job.”

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