Paul Ohle, 69, was at home baking around 9 a.m. when he heard more than a dozen bangs on his front door. By the time he made it to the door, a man had already forced his way inside. The man told Ohle that he needed help, so Ohle picked up his cell phone to call 911. The man grabbed the phone from Ohle and pushed him onto the sofa. He ordered Ohle to stay where he was as he tried to take his television. Ohle struggled with the man, but managed to get to the .38-cal. handgun he kept in his bedroom. Ohle fired multiple rounds, killing the intruder. Ohle was later taken to an area hospital where he was treated and released. (Hickory Daily Record, Hickory, NC, 2/26/13)
A widowed grandmother who awoke to the sound of her back door being smashed open held the intruder at gunpoint until police arrived at her North Spokane home. Spokane police said the 63-year-old woman fired one shot at the man when she found him in her home around 12:20 a.m. but he was not injured. "I just woke up with the crash and grabbed my gun and got out of bed and said 'I'm armed' and he kept coming at me," the homeowner said. "I shot off one round and he kept coming, so I started backing up." The intruder "flopped" on her sofa, she said, and she got the phone and called 911. When police arrived the intruder attempted to flee, but went back in the house upon seeing officers. Police entered the home where the intruder resisted, but was finally subdued with help from the K9 unit. (The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, WA, 4/3/13)
From The Armed Citizen Archives
November 1969: Mrs. Katherine Lawrence, 72, of Atlanta, Ga., went to her bedroom and obtained a pistol when a man kept beating on her front door demanding a drink of water. When the intruder kicked in a window and threatened to kill her, Mrs. Lawrence fatally wounded him. (Constitution, Atlanta, GA)