AndrewBlakePhiladelphia, PA – A man broke into the house of a police officer’s 70-year-old mother, but he ended up fleeing with a bullet wound and calling for help.
The suspect, who was not identified, ran to a nearby car wash after being shot May 5, according to WCAU-TV.
KYW-TV identified the homeowner as Maxine Thompson.
Thompson her someone breaking in her back window at about 4:30 a.m. Thompson said the man was hollering and screaming and banging on the door, according to KYW-TV.
“Next thing I know I could tell he was inside my house and he was running up the steps,” Thompson told KYW.
Thompson said she realized it was a home invasion and she was ready to fight off the invader.
Thompson said she grabbed her gun off the nightstand.
“I snatched my gun and I started shooting at him and he ran down the steps and I ran down the step behind him and started shooting some more and he jumped out that window back the way he came in,” Thompson said, according to KYW. “I was like shoot first and ask questions later.”
The 43-year-old suspect then called 9-1-1. Police officers found the suspect on a nearby rooftop. He was treated at a hospital and then held in police custody.
The suspect suffered a bullet wound to his upper left arm and jumped out of the window that he used to enter the house.
Thompson said she is very shaken from the incident. But she told KYW that would-be robbers “better think twice” if they choose to mess with her.
Diane Newman, Thompson’s cousin, said that God spared Thompson’s life.
“Annie Oakley is still living,” Newman told KYW. “Annie got her gun and ran, ran him right out that window.”