Homeowner Hits Meth-Fueled Intruder With Machete During Midnight Break In

Tulsa, OK – A homeowner used a machete to protect his terrified family members after a man high on meth busted out his child’s bedroom window and forced his way inside their home in the middle of the night, according to police.

The incident occurred at a residence near Memorial and Pine in Tulsa at approximately 2 a.m. on Feb. 28, the Tulsa Police Department (TPD) said in a press release later that morning.

Police responded to the scene after receiving a 911 call about a burglary in progress.

They arrived to find several children and family members screaming out in the front yard, according to the TPD.

The victims guided the officers to the house and told them the intruder and the homeowner were both still inside.

Officers entered the house and learned the suspect had barricaded himself in a back bedroom after the homeowner hit him with a machete, the TPD said.

Police managed to take the intruder into custody with the help of a K9.

He was later identified as Ty Copeland.

The investigation revealed the family had been asleep inside their home when Copeland busted out the window of a child’s bedroom and crawled into the house, the TPD said.

The male homeowner was able to get his children and his wife out of the house to safety as the intruder allegedly started “throwing objects and destroying parts of the house,” according to police.

The homeowner ultimately grabbed a machete during the melee and hit Copeland with it, at which point the suspect allegedly barricaded himself in the back bedroom.

“I had to strike the man [with the machete] to defend my family,” the homeowner later told KOKI. “It feels horrible. I wish I could’ve done more, but I couldn’t.”

After he was apprehended, Copeland was transported to the hospital “with severe cuts and injuries from the broken glass and machete strike,” the TPD said.

He allegedly confessed he broke into the house at random while running from police, according to investigators.

Police said he also admitted he had been smoking methamphetamine earlier that night.

Copeland was booked into the Tulsa County Jail on a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) hold due to his status as a Native American.

The homeowner said the incident was terrifying, but that he would do it all over again to protect his wife and children, KOKI reported.

“Defend your family,” he said. “Do what you can to protect your family. There’s nothing more, you have nothing more – it’s your family.”