Lee Buchanan
editor@thefranklinpress.com
An elderly man turned the tables on suspects in a home invasion, pulling a .38-caliber handgun from a basket attached to his walker and shooting one of the intruders.
Macon County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call on Saturday night, July 11 from a 76-year-old man reporting that a woman and a man wearing masks has forced their way into his home in the Addington Bridge Road area.
The resident said he answered the door – with the help of his walker – to find a woman wearing a “COVID mask.” When he opened the door, a second individual wearing a similar mask forced his way into the home.
The resident, whose name was not released, pulled a handgun from a basket attached to his walker and shot the male suspect. Both intruders fled in a vehicle.
When deputies arrived on the scene, they found blood inside and outside the home.
“The victim had a through-and-through gunshot wound to his forearm,” Holland said.
Deputies found a spent .38-caliber slug on the floor inside the house.
“We found where a bullet had struck the door, and we found the spent bullet right below,” sheriff Robert Holland said.
A short time later, a man and a woman arrived at Angel Medical Center. The man had suffered a gunshot wound to his forearm. The woman dropped off the injured man and left the hospital, according to Holland.
The wounded suspect told deputies that he had been shot by two intruders at his home on Norris Road in Otto. After further investigation, deputies concluded the suspect’s story was false.
During interviews, a suspect admitted to their role in the planned robbery, according to the sheriff’s office.
Investigators determined that there were actually four people at the victim’s home – the two seen at the door, another waiting at the end of the porch and a fourth waiting in a vehicle.
The group planned to rob the man’s money and prescription medications in an effort to purchase heroin that was being sold by someone at a local motel, Holland said.
That led to the arrest of two other suspects on drug charges.
The following suspects were arrested:
• Natasha Kerberg, charged with first-degree burglary and assault on a handicapped person, $200,000 bond
• Carmalita Pike, first-degree burglary and assault on a handicapped person, $200,000 bond
• Kenneth Lawrence, first-degree burglary, assault on a handicapped person and simple possession of a Schedule VI controlled substance
• Dylan Myers, trafficking heroin, possession of Schedule II, Schedule III and Schedule IV controlled substances, $150,000 bond.