Stage 4 cancer patient stops robbery with shotgun

The Associate Press has a story from Laketon Township, Michigan of a defensive gun use.  While there is no evidence that the victim here was targeted because of his cancer, it is quite common for robbers to target cancer victims so as to steal their pain medicine.

A 63-year-old man with stage 4 lymphoma, steady nerves and a double-barreled shotgun thwarted a break-in at his western Michigan home and convinced two suspects to surrender, police said. 

Dixon Smith said he confronted the two young men just before noon Thursday after they climbed the stairs to the second floor of his home in Muskegon County's Laketon Township. 

Smith and police believe one of the suspects picked the front door lock with a credit card.
"I'm still trying to calm down," Smith, who was home alone working in his second-story loft, told MLive.com for a story published Friday. "Within three minutes I see a guy with a hoodie walking past my front window." 

"They made it almost to the top stair. I came out and told them to lay down," he said of the frightening experience. "Tell you what, you've got a shotgun, you're waiting, you hear them on the stairway coming for your bedroom." . . . .

Thanks to Victor Mair for the link to this story.