BRADENTON, FLORIDA — Imagine waking up and feeling a gun pressed against your head by a stranger standing over you. That is what this Bradenton, Florida man recently experienced. Fortunately he managed to survive the encounter, and then some.
Investigators say the intruder went into the man’s house, fired the gun next to his head, and began to pistol whip him.
Via 10 News
The man fought back. During a scuffle, deputies say the intruder dropped the pistol — allowing the homeowner to grab it and shoot him. The homeowner then ran next door for help.
When authorities showed up, they found a pistol and the back door open. But, they say they couldn’t find the intruder who was shot.
With the help of a drone and K-9 unit, they spotted a man, believed to be the intruder, on the ground outside a nearby condo building. He was unresponsive.
The Breakdown:
Our Florida Man homeowner is asleep in his bed. Apparently he doesn’t have a dog or anyone else living with him that hears someone enter the house. The man wakes up to a gun being pressed against his head. The home intruder fires the gun next to his head. I can only imagine how badly that hurt his ears and hearing.
Now that the homeowner is nearly deaf an dazed, the home intruder starts to pistol whip him and beat him with the gun. Having had enough of the beating and thinking his life was probably close to being over, the homeowner fights back.
He physically begins a struggle with the home intruder. During the struggle the gun falls to the floor. The homeowner scrambles and picks it up quickly. He fires a shot and runs out of the house. He’s alive. He goes to his neighbor’s house and calls the police.
The Bad
The big thing here is that the homeowner had no protection or early warning in the house. This is why a dog can be so important to home security. Regardless of how hard you sleep, your dog is going to hear a stranger in the house and wake you up.
Alternatively, an alarm system in the house would have helped here, as well, alerting him when an entry point was crossed; either a door or window. We don’t know if the homeowner had a gun in the house, and it doesn’t matter. Since waking up with a gun drawn on him, even if he had a gun he would have had no time to retrieve it.
The Good
Despite the circumstances, the man made it out of the situation alive. Considering how things started for him, that is pretty impressive. Not only did he have a gun drawn on him, he also endured someone firing it right next to his ear. If your reading this, you’ve most likely been around guns and you know how painful that can be.
Furthermore, he got pistol whipped and beaten with the gun. Imagine reeling from the pain and shock of the firearm going off next to your ear, then getting physically attacked! Through all this ,the homeowner recognized his life was in jeopardy and physically attacked the home intruder. That is incredible fortitude!
After the gun had fallen to the floor, he had the wits to pounce on it quickly to gain control. He immediately fired without hesitation to end the threat he faced. He then fled the danger and ran to a neighbor to get help from the police.
All in all an incredible story of survival. The homeowner pretty much did everything right that he could have done after waking up. Hopefully the homeowner will look to secure his property and prevent future events like this from happening again.