A grandmother’s quick thinking and steady hand likely saved her life after a man attempted to break into her Philadelphia home early Saturday morning.
Maxine Thompson, 70, said she woke up around 4:30 a.m. to loud banging and glass breaking at her local home. Philadelphia police said it was a 43-year-old man trying to burglarize the elderly woman’s residence.
“At first I thought I was dreaming, and then I looked out the window, outside,” Thompson told local station FOX 29. “…I was still hearing the banging, banging, banging, so I yelled to whoever, ‘Who’s that on my door? Get off my door, get off my door.’ ”
Her repeated warnings did little to deter the brazen crook, however, who’d used her patio furniture to hoist himself into her home. That’s when Thompson said she went into survival mode, grabbed her late mother’s handgun and fired several shots at the suspect. It was the first time she had ever used the weapon, she said.
“I shot at him. He turned around and he ran and when he ran, I ran down the steps behind him and shot at him some more,” Thompson said. “Kill him before he kills me. That’s what was going through my mind.”
The harrowing incident lasted all of 10 minutes and the elderly homeowner managed to escape unscathed. The same can’t be said of the alleged home intruder, however.
One of Thompson’s bullets struck the suspect in the arm, after which he fled to a nearby car wash and called the police to report that he’d been shot, Fox News reported. He was arrested and taken to a local hospital where he was treated for a gunshot wound to his upper arm.
Thompson, whose son happens to be a city police officer, said she’s still a bit shaken up by the incident and realizes she could’ve been killed. Still, she offered the suspect these stern words of advice:
“Stay the hell out of people’s houses.”
As for her broken dining room window, Thompson said, “it’ll be fixed in no time.” She’s just happy to be alive.
