Illinois Dad Uses Fists, 2A To Valiantly Fight Off Intruders Holding His Family at Gunpoint
It is often repeated by Second Amendment proponents because it is true: “Bad guys with guns can only be stopped by good guys with guns.”
That is exactly what happened in a Chicago suburb on Saturday, when a homeowner shot and killed an intruder after two men broke into an Arlington Heights, Illinois, home and threatened the unnamed homeowner and his family at gunpoint.
According to the Arlington Heights Daily Herald, the unsuspecting family was at home shortly before 2 p.m. Saturday when Bradley J. Finnan, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, along with accomplice Larry D. Brodacz of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, rang their doorbell.
The male homeowner, expecting landscapers, opened the front door for the men who immediately forced their way in. The men were wearing medical-style face masks, which hid their identities, but have become common during the coronavirus pandemic.
In what police called an attempted robbery, the two intruders entered the home hoping to find $200,000 in cash that Brodacz had seen in the home two decades prior and, according to what Finnan told the authorities, was convinced was still there.
Once inside the home, both men reportedly brandished guns, threatening the family. The homeowner’s wife immediately fled with their children to a second-floor bedroom and shut the door.
Finnan and the homeowner became locked in a struggle downstairs. Meanwhile upstairs, Brodacz forced his way through the bedroom door where the rest of the family was hiding and pointed his gun at the homeowner’s wife, who pleaded for her life.
Once he successfully chased Finnan out the door, the homeowner can be seen in this Ring doorbell camera footage shared by WGN-TV punching the intruder, who then fled the scene.
The homeowner then went back inside to his master bedroom to grab a gun that was owned by his wife, according to the Chicago Tribune. While he was in the bedroom, the homeowner felt a blow land on the back of his head and subsequently fired a shot that missed Brodacz.
A savage brawl ensued as both men bit each other, and Brodacz eventually attempted to stab the homeowner with a knife he’d hidden in his waistband.
It was at that point that the homeowner fired the fatal shot into Brodacz’s abdomen, finally ending the brutal incident that endangered the lives of the homeowner and his family.
Finnan, whose mask had slipped while he was attempting to escape, was identified and captured by police at his mother’s home the next morning. He has been charged with murder since, under the law, he is considered responsible for the shooting due to his involvement in a felony that resulted in the killing of another person. He is facing a possible life sentence, the Daily Herald reported.
Finnan told police he knew Brodacz from a car dealership where both worked, according to the Daily Herald. Neither man was known to the family, according to the newspaper.
Although it wasn’t mentioned in news reports, it doesn’t appear that the homeowner was charged in the shooting, which likely means the gun he used was in the home legally.
In the nearby city of Chicago, strict gun laws persist even as residents are routinely slain in shootings. Had there not been a weapon in this family’s home, unspeakable tragedy could have befallen them.
What happened here is an example of the importance of preserving the Second Amendment. Without a firearm to defend against one of those “bad guys with guns,” the victim is a sitting duck as police cannot respond with the same speed as a criminal’s bullet.
With fears of civil unrest surrounding the coronavirus pandemic beginning to swell, more and more Americans are arming themselves.
“Americans bought about two million guns in March,” according to The New York Times. “It was the second-busiest month ever for gun sales, trailing only January 2013, just after President Barack Obama’s re-election and the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.”
Americans bought about two million guns in March. It was the second-busiest month ever for gun sales, trailing only January 2013, just after President Barack Obama’s re-election and the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. https://t.co/nwE8PQAaPq
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 2, 2020
If gun-control obsessed liberals had it their way, law-abiding citizens would be left with nothing but their extra rolls of toilet paper to defend against potential looters and pandemic opportunists.
Thankfully, the homeowner was properly armed. He acted bravely, and his actions prove two truths liberals attempt to deny: In the right hands, guns save lives, and men are instinctively capable protectors when it comes to their families.
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