One-Legged Man Swings Crutch to Stop Armed Prowler

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A one-legged Michigan man used his crutch to fight off an armed prowler who allegedly threatened to shoot him early Friday morning, according to police.

“I’ve never had a gun pointed at me, so I didn’t know what to do. ... I was a little afraid but I wasn’t terrified. I just reacted to the situation,” John Wagar, of Litchfield Township, told the Jackson Citizen Patriot/MLive.com. “That was the only way that I thought I could diffuse (the situation) at the time.”

Wagar, 57, lost his leg in a 1976 motorcycle crash.

He was in the bathroom of his home about 4 a.m. when he heard a prowler in his neighbor’s yard. He went outside to investigate and the suspect, a 19-year-old Litchfield man, allegedly told him to go inside or be shot, and threatened to “break my other leg,” Wagar told the Jackson newspaper.

“At the same time he pulled the gun and pointed it right at me, and I took my crutch and blasted him right in the head as hard as I could,” Wagar continued. “Then he tried to hit me in the head with the gun but I ducked.”

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Meanwhile, Wagar’s girlfriend was inside the house dialing 911.

Police chased the suspect through several yards. He reportedly made it to his residence, where he hid out until Michigan State Police and local police and sheriff’s departments established a perimeter and coaxed him over a PA system to give himself up, according to a statement.

The suspect is being held at the Hillsdale County Jail, and the case has been given to the county prosecutor for review.