87-year-old woman fights off home invader, then feeds him snacks
BRUNSWICK, Maine (WTVO/NEXSTAR) — An 87-year-old woman living in Maine managed to fight off a teenage attacker who broke into her home in the middle of the night and then fed him snacks because “he was awfully hungry.”
On July 26, Marjorie Perkins was sleeping in her home when she awoke to find an intruder standing over her bed, according to a news release shared by the Brunswick Police Department. He then threatened to cut her with a knife, police said.
“I thought to myself, ‘If he’s going to cut, I’m going to kick,'” Perkins told the Brunswick Times.
Perkins told the outlet she fended off the intruder’s attacks by using a chair as a shield. But the two eventually found themselves in the kitchen, where the teenage intruder admitted he was “awfully hungry,” she said.
“And I said, ‘Well, here’s a box of peanut butter and honey crackers. You can have that whole box.’ I gave him two containers of Ensure and I gave him two tangerines,” she told the Brunswick Times.
The suspect eventually left on foot — without his shoes — after Perkins called the police.
Officers with the Brunswick Police Department arrived shortly afterward and went to the home of a teenager who matched Perkins’ description of the attacker.
“Officers had a juvenile suspect in mind and went to the residence he was staying at to investigate. The juvenile in fact matched the description given,” police wrote in a news release.
Police then used a K-9 unit to help locate the juvenile, who was transported to a youth detention center.
The suspect, who was not identified by police, has been charged with burglary, criminal threatening, assault and consuming alcohol as a minor.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.