It’s been a good week for seniors. First a 92-year-old woman from Wales provided a sliver of hope that the UK isn’t a total loss. At least not yet. And over here a 72-year-old Reno resident stopped not one, not two but three home invaders. How, you ask, did an elderly man who walks with a cane hold off three burly burglars in the middle of the night all by himself? He did it with a handgun he keeps by his bed for self defense. But you probably knew that…
The homeowner had awakened about 3 a.m., Friday after hearing people in his home in the 200 block of Bartlett St., according to a police report. Authorities said the man had possessed a gun as protection from an earlier recent burglary, and confronted the suspects in the hallway with his gun. He fired shots at Rogers, who police said fled the residence with a third suspect, Guy Ruiz, 44.
The homeowner plugged Rogers center of mass. But when the leaking burglar took off along with Ruiz (above left), that left the photogenic Robert Marin (above right) still in the house with a knife. The homeowner held Marin off at gun point, but was exhausted and didn’t have a phone with which to call the police.
The elderly gentleman held Marin for four hours while he tried to regain his strength after all the excitement. That’s when Marin tried to jump him. But that backfired, so to speak. When Marin hit the homeowner’s gun hand with his cane, he fired, hitting Marin in the wrist. It took another four hours for the older man to recover again, finally forcing Marin outside at gunpoint where he asked a neighbor to call the cops.
Thankfully, the unnamed resident wasn’t hurt during the eight hour incident. For that, he can thank the fact that he owned a gun and knew how to use it. I’d buy a ticket to hear Dennis Henigan explain to the elderly homeowner how much safer he’d have been without a gun.