Keith
June 17, 2003, 01:35 PM
Still scratching my head about this one!
http://adn.com/front/story/3310211p-3341411c.html
Quite a fright
Man rushes through front door like a linebacker, shoots resident
By TATABOLINE BRANT
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: June 17, 2003)
Tony Bordenelli, 89, was shot with a pellet gun and pistol-whipped by a robber Sunday night in his Fairview home. (Photo by Bill Roth / Anchorage Daily News)
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Click on photo to enlarge
An 89-year-old man was shot in the chest with a pellet gun and pistol-whipped Sunday evening while trying to fight off an intruder who burst into his Fairview home, Anchorage police said.
Tony Bordenelli survived his injuries, but he and his wife, Patty, say the robbery is not something they will forget. The couple have a 7-month-old girl, whom they call Princess, and Patty said she had to hide in a bedroom closet with the baby during the attack.
"I was afraid for my life and my husband's and my baby's," Patty said Monday at her home. She did not want her last name released.
Bordenelli and his wife have been married about two years. They did not plan to have a baby at their ages, they said. Bordenelli, a retired plumber, likes to joke that he moved to Alaska right after waiting tables at the Last Supper. Patty will say only that she's in her 40s.
About a year ago, the couple moved into a single-family rental off Cordova Street near the new Denali Elementary. They planted flowers out front and filled the house with baby toys. In their spare time, the couple like to play video games together, especially "Bomberman."
"I stay up some nights until 5 or 6 in the morning," Bordenelli said. His wife is better at the game than he is, he said. "I get killed all the time."
On Sunday, it got hot inside the little house, so the couple propped the front door open. Shortly before 6:30 p.m., Patty put Princess down for a nap in her crib and lay down on a bed in the same room.
Bordenelli was sweeping the living room carpet with a broom when a light-skinned man with short black hair, a black mustache and black-rimmed glasses burst through the front door demanding money, police and Bordenelli said.
The attacker rushed Bordenelli like a linebacker, he said. The man had a thin build and stood about 5 feet, 9 inches tall, police said. He pushed Bordenelli past the playpen and stroller in the living room, through the kitchen and into the bathroom at the back of the house.
Bordenelli hit the bathroom floor.
"This is it, baby," he recalled the intruder saying to him.
"Get out of my house!" Patty said she heard her husband yell. She grabbed the baby from the crib and the telephone from the night stand and crouched down on a pile of clothes in the bedroom closet. She closed the closet door and dialed 911. The dispatcher told her to stay put, she said.
Bordenelli struggled to get free. The intruder straddled him, and Bordenelli said he kicked the man between the legs.
"That's when he shot me," Bordenelli explained Monday, pulling the collar of his white T-shirt down to show a bandage on his upper chest.
Bordenelli and his wife didn't know at the time that the firearm was a pellet gun. Patty held her hand over Princess' mouth and pleaded with the infant to stop crying.
"I thought that man was going to go in the closet and shoot me and the baby," she said.
Princess stopped crying.
"She knows lots of words even though she's little," Patty said Monday, beaming.
When Bordenelli tried to get up, the attacker hit him in the left temple with the butt of the pellet gun, he said. The man stole $650 out of Bordenelli's pants pocket, which he had just withdrawn from the bank to pay bills, he said. He also took Bordenelli's wallet, which held credit cards, three silver dollars, a few old 50-cent pieces and an "old-time $1 silver certificate," Bordenelli said.
The robber fled with the loot. For a moment all was quiet in the house. Patty said she thought her husband was dead. Bordenelli said he thought the intruder might have gone into the bedroom where his wife and child were hiding. He went out the back door, looked around for a pipe to use as a weapon and went back in calling his wife's name.
The police arrived quickly, the couple said. Bordenelli was treated at and released from Alaska Regional Hospital.
Other witnesses said they saw the intruder get into a newer two-door maroon sedan similar to a Ford Taurus, police said. The car was parked around the corner and had a female driver, police said. No arrests have been made.
On Monday, while Bordenelli reported a stolen credit card, Patty watched Princess as she slept in the bedroom. Tears came to her eyes when she pointed to the closet and described what it had been like sitting in there the night before.
Bordenelli, a former boxer who also set a world record in 1969 for bowling continuously for 3 1/2 days, according to a newspaper clipping framed on his wall, said nothing like this has happened to him in the 30 years he's lived in Fairview. The intruder took him by surprise.
"If I saw him coming in, it would have been a different story," he said.
http://adn.com/front/story/3310211p-3341411c.html
Quite a fright
Man rushes through front door like a linebacker, shoots resident
By TATABOLINE BRANT
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: June 17, 2003)
Tony Bordenelli, 89, was shot with a pellet gun and pistol-whipped by a robber Sunday night in his Fairview home. (Photo by Bill Roth / Anchorage Daily News)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click on photo to enlarge
An 89-year-old man was shot in the chest with a pellet gun and pistol-whipped Sunday evening while trying to fight off an intruder who burst into his Fairview home, Anchorage police said.
Tony Bordenelli survived his injuries, but he and his wife, Patty, say the robbery is not something they will forget. The couple have a 7-month-old girl, whom they call Princess, and Patty said she had to hide in a bedroom closet with the baby during the attack.
"I was afraid for my life and my husband's and my baby's," Patty said Monday at her home. She did not want her last name released.
Bordenelli and his wife have been married about two years. They did not plan to have a baby at their ages, they said. Bordenelli, a retired plumber, likes to joke that he moved to Alaska right after waiting tables at the Last Supper. Patty will say only that she's in her 40s.
About a year ago, the couple moved into a single-family rental off Cordova Street near the new Denali Elementary. They planted flowers out front and filled the house with baby toys. In their spare time, the couple like to play video games together, especially "Bomberman."
"I stay up some nights until 5 or 6 in the morning," Bordenelli said. His wife is better at the game than he is, he said. "I get killed all the time."
On Sunday, it got hot inside the little house, so the couple propped the front door open. Shortly before 6:30 p.m., Patty put Princess down for a nap in her crib and lay down on a bed in the same room.
Bordenelli was sweeping the living room carpet with a broom when a light-skinned man with short black hair, a black mustache and black-rimmed glasses burst through the front door demanding money, police and Bordenelli said.
The attacker rushed Bordenelli like a linebacker, he said. The man had a thin build and stood about 5 feet, 9 inches tall, police said. He pushed Bordenelli past the playpen and stroller in the living room, through the kitchen and into the bathroom at the back of the house.
Bordenelli hit the bathroom floor.
"This is it, baby," he recalled the intruder saying to him.
"Get out of my house!" Patty said she heard her husband yell. She grabbed the baby from the crib and the telephone from the night stand and crouched down on a pile of clothes in the bedroom closet. She closed the closet door and dialed 911. The dispatcher told her to stay put, she said.
Bordenelli struggled to get free. The intruder straddled him, and Bordenelli said he kicked the man between the legs.
"That's when he shot me," Bordenelli explained Monday, pulling the collar of his white T-shirt down to show a bandage on his upper chest.
Bordenelli and his wife didn't know at the time that the firearm was a pellet gun. Patty held her hand over Princess' mouth and pleaded with the infant to stop crying.
"I thought that man was going to go in the closet and shoot me and the baby," she said.
Princess stopped crying.
"She knows lots of words even though she's little," Patty said Monday, beaming.
When Bordenelli tried to get up, the attacker hit him in the left temple with the butt of the pellet gun, he said. The man stole $650 out of Bordenelli's pants pocket, which he had just withdrawn from the bank to pay bills, he said. He also took Bordenelli's wallet, which held credit cards, three silver dollars, a few old 50-cent pieces and an "old-time $1 silver certificate," Bordenelli said.
The robber fled with the loot. For a moment all was quiet in the house. Patty said she thought her husband was dead. Bordenelli said he thought the intruder might have gone into the bedroom where his wife and child were hiding. He went out the back door, looked around for a pipe to use as a weapon and went back in calling his wife's name.
The police arrived quickly, the couple said. Bordenelli was treated at and released from Alaska Regional Hospital.
Other witnesses said they saw the intruder get into a newer two-door maroon sedan similar to a Ford Taurus, police said. The car was parked around the corner and had a female driver, police said. No arrests have been made.
On Monday, while Bordenelli reported a stolen credit card, Patty watched Princess as she slept in the bedroom. Tears came to her eyes when she pointed to the closet and described what it had been like sitting in there the night before.
Bordenelli, a former boxer who also set a world record in 1969 for bowling continuously for 3 1/2 days, according to a newspaper clipping framed on his wall, said nothing like this has happened to him in the 30 years he's lived in Fairview. The intruder took him by surprise.
"If I saw him coming in, it would have been a different story," he said.