Punk Breaks In, Viking Weapon Collector Grabs Battleaxe and Goes Medieval
A punk stepped into a world of hurt when he broke into the apartment of a weapon collector, an encounter that left the criminal in the hospital.
Ben Ball was playing video games and watching television in his Kalamazoo, Michigan, apartment the night of Nov. 6 when a man began pounding on the door.
Ball said he had reason to believe the individual was armed, possibly with a gun. The man trying to force his way into the apartment once dated a former roommate of Ball’s.
Eventually, the pounding gave way to kicks, and the man breached the door.
Unfortunately for him, he was entering a world of pain.
Ball immediately jumped into action.
The 36-year-old weapon collector and battle reenactor grabbed a nearby weapon — a replica Viking-style ax — and went to work on the intruder.
“Door opens, grab the ax,” Ball said as he was walking a local WOOD-TV reporter through the attack.
“Step, step, hit,” he said.
The medieval weapon connected, slashing the suspect across the torso. The man then began grappling with Ball, destroying the apartment.
“There was a bloody mess everywhere,” Ball said.
Eventually, the intruder gave up and fled. A police K9 unit was able to follow the trail of blood and apprehend the suspect.
Alex Lavell Rawls, 33, was taken to a hospital before eventually being booked into the Kalamazoo County Jail.
Rawls now faces a charge of first-degree home invasion, which could put him away for two decades.
Ball’s Twitter account is full of memes and pictures, including one that shows his new nickname at work — “Axe Man.”
After telling my aerial construction boss and the foreman how my week was my boss wrote this on my pay envelope pic.twitter.com/PLvnDg3Az6
— BennieB (@Psikosis2) November 11, 2019
While a firearm is the surest way to put down a violent home intruder, a battleaxe will work in a pinch.
Thanks to Ball’s training, quick thinking and impressive armament, he’s alive to tell his epic story.
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