Texas Woman, 90, Holds Burglar at Gunpoint Until Police Arrive

DALLAS —  Ninety-year-old Gena Scarbrough said she learned how to shoot when growing up on a farm but had never pointed a weapon at anyone until this week, when she stopped a burglar with a borrowed pistol.

Police say Scarbrough stood in her carport Tuesday night waiting for an intruder to leave the house. When the burglar climbed out a window carrying a stereo and speakers, Scarbrough aimed the .22-caliber pistol at him.

“I told him: ‘Put it down right there and don’t move. Don’t move or I’ll shoot,’ ” she said.

Scarbrough said she was not flustered and would have shot the burglar if he had not cooperated. She held the intruder at gunpoint until policemen arrived several minutes later.

“I’d determined he wasn’t going to get away,” she said. “He’d broken into my property.”

A tenant at the duplex owned by Scarbrough had called her to say that someone was breaking into the other apartment.

After calling the police, Scarbrough hurried to the property. In her haste, however, she forgot her shotgun.

But Tommie Barnes, 72, who notified her of the break-in, handed her the handgun and was by her side when Scarbrough confronted the burglar.

Police officers arrested Manfredo Barrios, 33, in connection with the break-in.

A Dallas police spokesman criticized Scarbrough’s action. “This is what we get paid to do,” Cpl. Ray Bilbrey said.

But Scarbrough, who sometimes listens to police scanners for entertainment, said she thinks homeowners should know how to defend their property with a firearm.

“I think everybody ought to have one,” she said. “You can’t always get the police when you need them.”