Clarksville, Tennessee

From the Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle of June 28, 2007

Victim turns tables on burglar

50-year-old man wrestles gun from teen

Sheriff's Investigator Julie Webb wishes every home invasion could have such positive results.

"It worked out awesome," said Webb, the lead investigator on the case. It was a burglary where the occupants of a River Hills Drive residence awoke to find an armed burglar in their home, only to wrestle away his weapon, chase him from their home, and later identify him for the arrest.

"We had wonderful victims that handled themselves as well as you could ask for," she said.

At about 1 a.m., a male resident awoke at his usual time, but noticed that some things were out of place, Webb said.

"He said it took him a minute to register," she said, but he quickly found a masked man with a rifle in a bedroom.

The masked man, Craig Majors, 19, who gave a 211 Al Orta Drive address, pointed the rifle at him and "told him not to look at him, turn around, or he would kill him," Webb said.

Majors then demanded money, to which the victim responded that they use debit cards and don't keep money in the house. Majors decided to take the victim to a nearby ATM to withdraw his money.

Still holding the gun at the victim's back, Majors led him to the garage where he found some bungee cord to tie him up with. As he tied him up, Majors held the gun under his arm, which turned out to be a mistake.

"(The victim) said to me he realized that was his opportunity," Webb said. "He turned around and jumped on this man, and the fight was on."

The victim, who is in his 50's, yelled as he fought Majors, and his wife awoke to find them fighting in the garage.

She then struck the burglar in the side of the head.

The male victim was able to get an upper hand in the fight, Webb said, as the gun lay on the ground. Majors then got on top of the victim, but the victim was able to kick him off and down a staircase. He then picked up the gun and attempted to fire it, but it didn't fire, so he started swinging the gun at Majors who ran, Webb said.

The couple watched Majors sped away in a dark colored, four-door car, the same vehicle deputies found abandoned no more than a mile down the road, after it struck a tree.

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