From Newsday:
/05/2000 - Saturday - Page A 8
Armed East End Man Halts Burglar
Intruder flees home of gun-toting retiree
by Seth Stern
Staff Writer
Clutching a loaded shotgun, an 84-year-old retired maintenance worker from Bridgehampton confronted a burglar breaking into his home early Friday morning, sending the man fleeing, Southampton police said.
The would-be burglar had ripped the screen from the back porch and broken the chain on the kitchen door to gain access to the house. But William Harris, who built the house 50 years ago, said Friday the burglar promptly retreated out the kitchen door upon seeing his weapon. The intruder was lucky, Harris said, because Benjamin Davis, 68, Harris' housemate, stood between them.
"If Benny wasn't here, I probably would have shot him," Harris said of the intruder.
Recovering in bed from a recent cataract operation, Harris said he heard Davis yell about an intruder in the house off the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike about 3 a.m., Harris grabbed his 16-gauge shotgun from a bedroom closet.
Davis said the burglar was making his way through the darkened kitchen when he encountered him and stopped only when he saw Harris wielding the weapon.
Neither Harris nor Davis recognized the intruder.
"It's an unusual incident where someone enters a house he knows to be occupied and continues to enter until confronted with a shotgun," said Southampton Town Police Det. Sgt. Robert C. Flood, who is investigating the incident.
Southampton police recovered a khaki Old Navy baseball cap with the emblem "Old Navy Genuine Established 1994" at the scene, and a New York State police dog tracked the intruder to the Long Island Rail Road tracks near Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike.
Despite the outcome at Harris' home, Flood cautioned homeowners against brandishing weapons on intruders. "Historically, people who use weapons in their home have the weapons turned against them," Flood said.
Harris' daughter, who lives across the street but declined to give her name, disagreed, saying her father acted properly. "He was protecting his home, and that's what he should have done," she said.
A retired Grumman maintenance worker, Harris said he was puzzled about the break-in.
"I can't figure it out. Unless he was looking for my Social Security check, which I already spent a part of," Harris said.
Harris said he inherited the gun when his father died in 1965 but had never needed it before Friday. He said he plans to keep the shotgun by his bed now and hired a carpenter to install sturdier deadbolt locks on his doors.
Davis, a retired Southampton Hospital employee who has boarded with Harris for 15 years, said he wasn't surprised by Harris' response.
"He's not a pushover. He'll stand up as long as he can to whatever he has to," Davis said.
Copyright © Newsday, Inc. Produced by Newsday Electronic Publishing.
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OK Now if he had had a trigger lock?
How about the Dufus State Police detective's comments. HUH?
This guy is 84 and had cataract surgery and the BG didn't get his gun. Typical NY attitude.
Geoff Ross
------------------
One reason to vote in the next Presidential election.
It's the Supreme Court, Stupid!
/05/2000 - Saturday - Page A 8
Armed East End Man Halts Burglar
Intruder flees home of gun-toting retiree
by Seth Stern
Staff Writer
Clutching a loaded shotgun, an 84-year-old retired maintenance worker from Bridgehampton confronted a burglar breaking into his home early Friday morning, sending the man fleeing, Southampton police said.
The would-be burglar had ripped the screen from the back porch and broken the chain on the kitchen door to gain access to the house. But William Harris, who built the house 50 years ago, said Friday the burglar promptly retreated out the kitchen door upon seeing his weapon. The intruder was lucky, Harris said, because Benjamin Davis, 68, Harris' housemate, stood between them.
"If Benny wasn't here, I probably would have shot him," Harris said of the intruder.
Recovering in bed from a recent cataract operation, Harris said he heard Davis yell about an intruder in the house off the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike about 3 a.m., Harris grabbed his 16-gauge shotgun from a bedroom closet.
Davis said the burglar was making his way through the darkened kitchen when he encountered him and stopped only when he saw Harris wielding the weapon.
Neither Harris nor Davis recognized the intruder.
"It's an unusual incident where someone enters a house he knows to be occupied and continues to enter until confronted with a shotgun," said Southampton Town Police Det. Sgt. Robert C. Flood, who is investigating the incident.
Southampton police recovered a khaki Old Navy baseball cap with the emblem "Old Navy Genuine Established 1994" at the scene, and a New York State police dog tracked the intruder to the Long Island Rail Road tracks near Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike.
Despite the outcome at Harris' home, Flood cautioned homeowners against brandishing weapons on intruders. "Historically, people who use weapons in their home have the weapons turned against them," Flood said.
Harris' daughter, who lives across the street but declined to give her name, disagreed, saying her father acted properly. "He was protecting his home, and that's what he should have done," she said.
A retired Grumman maintenance worker, Harris said he was puzzled about the break-in.
"I can't figure it out. Unless he was looking for my Social Security check, which I already spent a part of," Harris said.
Harris said he inherited the gun when his father died in 1965 but had never needed it before Friday. He said he plans to keep the shotgun by his bed now and hired a carpenter to install sturdier deadbolt locks on his doors.
Davis, a retired Southampton Hospital employee who has boarded with Harris for 15 years, said he wasn't surprised by Harris' response.
"He's not a pushover. He'll stand up as long as he can to whatever he has to," Davis said.
Copyright © Newsday, Inc. Produced by Newsday Electronic Publishing.
---------------------------------------------------------
OK Now if he had had a trigger lock?
How about the Dufus State Police detective's comments. HUH?
This guy is 84 and had cataract surgery and the BG didn't get his gun. Typical NY attitude.
Geoff Ross
------------------
One reason to vote in the next Presidential election.
It's the Supreme Court, Stupid!
