A 68-year-old disabled Vietnam veteran used a handgun to thwart an attempted break-in at his home in Gastonia, North Carolina late last week.
According to the Gaston Gazette, Joseph Sapienza was watching television in his bed at 7:42 p.m. at his home on Thursday night when he heard somebody prying the lock and pulling the nails to the latch out of his front door.
Sapienza, a Marine Corps veteran who served four years in Vietnam, sprung into action. He grabbed his .45-caliber handgun, put it in a holster on his walker and made his way toward the sound.
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As the Gazette reports, he turned on the hallway light, yelled out that he was armed and pulled open the door to come face-to-face with two men wearing ski masks.
Upon seeing Sapienza, the two suspects immediately fled.
“It was like a keystone cops scene,” Sapienza said. “When they saw the .45, one ran one way up the street, and the other went the other way.”
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Police have not made any arrests in connection with the attempted break-in.
After scaring off the would-be burglars, Sapienza taped a note to his front door, which reads: “I see you tried to break in, took my lock off my door. That’s OK, you try to break in my house again, I will be waiting on you. Enter at your own risk.”
The Gaston Gazette reports that Sapienza has been disabled since 1980, when he was hit by a truck while riding his bike to work, breaking his pelvis. He believes the suspects saw him as an easy target.
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That, however, is a false assumption.
“I’m pretty proficient with it,” Sapienza said of his .45-caliber handgun. “I don’t want to have to shoot anybody else.”
[h/t to GunsSaveLives.net]
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Read more: http://www.gastongazette.com
