Elderly Man Takes Down Trespasser for Cops, Says Punk 'Was Gonna Get Blasted' if He Made Wrong Move
The best defense against home invasion is self-defense. Louis DiLena can attest to that.
DiLena is a retired contractor from New York City who, now that he’s no longer working, lives in Florida. According to WFLA, DiLena was watching television one night when he heard a sound at his back door.
DiLena was wearing only boxers and a sweatshirt — which made things difficult for him because of the fact he was about to come face-to-face with an intoxicated man who’d apparently just fled from the scene of an accident.
“And his hand was like this,” DiLena, a 71-year-old resident of Largo, told WFLA, showing a hand coming through the back screen door.
“He was trying to unlock this lock here. Which he did.”
He probably shouldn’t have.
So, let’s start with how 40-year-old Gary Harkins allegedly got there. Police say that the man had gotten into an accident at a nearby intersection.
Even though that accident left a woman injured, it wasn’t like he was going to stick around. Instead, he allegedly fled the scene on foot and started toward DiLena’s house.
Little did he know it would be his undoing.
DiLena said he felt Harkins out to figure out what was going on with him. After all, he could just have been a homeless man looking for a place to sleep.
However, when the retiree smelled alcohol on Harkins’ breath, he asked him if he wanted a beer.
When the man said yes, it gave DiLena an opportunity to fetch his gun.
“Finally I got all the way in the house and I was like ten feet away from him and I pulled the gun and went like this [cocking it], I cocked the gun and said, look man, I don’t want to kill you,” DiLena said
“I just want you out of my house. Out of my life. I don’t know why you’re here.”
DiLena kept the man there until police arrived.
“As soon as I seen the police come in, I had the loaded gun and I took it and I threw it on the counter,” DiLena said. “Because I didn’t want them to confuse me with the bad guy because I had the gun.”
DiLena told WFLA that Harkins “was getting chesty with me, he was putting his chest up against my arm.”
“If he started to go for that gun, he was gonna get blasted,” DiLena said while wearing an Israeli Defense Forces T-shirt. (Because this needed to get slightly more awesome, right?)
Harkins now faces a number of charges including driving under the influence, leaving the scene of an accident and burglary. If he makes bail, he’ll be ordered to stay away from DiLena.
Now, while 71 isn’t super-old in this day and age, it’s still difficult for a 71-year-old to go toe-to-toe with a 40-year-old, particularly an inebriated 40-year-old.
It’s more than likely the fact that DiLena was armed and knew how to use his gun was what stopped this from getting violent.
The Second Amendment is the great equalizer. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Police are great, but they can’t be there in a matter of seconds. A well-carried firearm, meanwhile, is there whenever you need it.
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