Reno, Nevada

From the October 31, 2006 Reno Gazette-Journal:

Immediately after Char Johannessen and her 5-year-old daughter left their Reno home Wednesday afternoon, her husband was roused from his afternoon nap by their dog barking outside.

Reflected in the glass of a framed picture, Jeffrey Johannessen could see a man outside the dining room window, adorned with a Halloween picture drawn by his daughter. He watched the black-gloved burglar as he pried at the window with a paint scraper.

Johannessen, who was a deputy in Gillette, Wyo., in the 1980s, grabbed his 12-gauge hunting shotgun from a nearby closet and waited for the suspect he nicknamed "Cool Hand Luke" for his criminal confidence.

The burglar, whom police identified as Ernest Carpenter, never knew Johannessen was in the home until he faced the shotgun and was told to hit the floor.

After a few blows to Carpenter's head with the butt of the shotgun -- one strike causing his dentures to fly out -- Johannessen, 6-foot-5, held the 5-foot-3 suspect until police arrived.

Johannessen, 48, said although he has law enforcement experience from his younger days, he considers himself an average citizen. He and his wife run a real estate business from their home.

"Having an armed populace is good," Johannessen said. "I had my shotgun, but I didn't have to fire it. He got the soft end of it, not the business end."

And Carpenter could've avoided that, Johannessen said.

"If he would have just gotten on the floor like I told him, I wouldn't have even had to have struck him."