An Army veteran from Athens, Ga. proved last week you don't have to be a physical match for a home invader as long as you have the proper tools for self-defense.
When someone kicked in his front door Wednesday afternoon, Mark Sikes, a wheelchair-bound 53-year-old, instinctively reached for the pistol in his bedroom nightstand, reports the Athens Banner-Herald.
"I pointed the gun at him and told him he better get the hell out, and he flew like a bat. He's lucky I didn't kill him," Sikes told the paper.
Sikes wasn't sure if the intruder had a weapon, and the invader, a 19-year-old man of impressive stature at 6 feet and nearly 200 pounds, didn't wait long enough to show him.
Authorities apprehended the would-be burglar early Monday morning after days of investigation. Demarcus Veron Ellison is also believed to be responsible for the theft of a motorcycle from a nearby Georgia county.
Sikes, the gun owner, said he had grown up with guns for self-defense and hunting. He told the paper that he believed people needed to be responsible for their own safety and defense, not just trust authorities to protect them. Ellison, Sikes said, was lucky he hadn't been shot during the break-in.
