Chicago: Ex-Marine kills intruder

Belleau Wood Marines Monument,
Des Plaines, IL

Once a Marine, always a Marine. As for the burglar, he had a rap sheet a mile long that dated back to the 1980s.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Mark Hayes, a 44-year-old former Marine, stood barefoot and dressed only in shorts as he faced a man who had broken into his garage in West Pullman in the middle of the night.

"Get the gun," the man said, apparently trying to fool Hayes into thinking he had an armed accomplice with him.

Hayes called out to his wife in the house, who brought him his shoes -- and a fillet knife. Hayes turned to see the intruder holding a hammer.

"My son was in the Marines for four years," Hayes' father Melvin said, recounting the confrontation. "He does a couple upward thrusts under the guy's ribcage and must have hit an artery because he starts bleeding profusely."

Hayes expressed regret that he killed the intruder--who of course had no business in the ex-soldier's garage.

"All I was trying to do was protect my house," the South Sider told WGN-TV.

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