Homeowner Thwarts Intruders, Shoots One

The injured intruder was taken to Stoger Hospital, his partner fled

An Englewood homeowner early Thursday managed to wrangle a gun from two intruders and shoot one of them.

Perry Pearce, a Chicago Water Department employee, was headed to work around 6:45 a.m. Thursday when two men approached him outside his house at 5722 S. Ada St.

He said he thought he was going to die.

"They put a machete to my head and they said they were going to cut my ears off," he recalled to reporters outside his home Thursday evening. "I was saying, 'God, this is not my time, and I know you're going to see me go out like this.'"

The men forced him back into his home at gunpoint, demanding he take them to his safe and open it, police said. 

A fight ensued, and Pearce managed to snatch one intruder's gun, shooting him in the abdomen. The injured man was taken to Stroger Hospital. His partner fled. 

Leonard Morrow, Pearce's longtime friend, told NBC Chicago this isn't the first attempted robbery on the home.  Eight months ago, robbers tried to rob his home and failed, Morrow said.

Pearce denied that, but said he wasn't going to let the incident drive him from the neighborhood he's known for more than two decades.

A large Rottweiler now protects the home along with several video surveillance cameras, the tape from which police are reviewing. Police also are investigating how the robbers knew there was a safe inside.

The robber who fled remains at large, police said.

"I'm waiting for them to come back. I'm waiting for them to come back because it's my show now," he said.

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