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87-Year-Old Man, Son Take Down Violent Intruder In Their Pasadena Home

PASADENA (CBSLA.com) — When an intruder broke into 87-year-old Ruben Heredia's Pasadena home Tuesday night, little did he know he picked the wrong house.

The hot prowler kicked through the kitchen door of Heredia's house in the 100 block of Arlington Drive around 9 p.m. when the victim, his wife and his son, Dan, were sleeping, police said.

The noise led the father and son into the kitchen where they confronted the intruder.

With his forehead bandaged up with gauze, Ruben told CBS2's Dave Lopez that the hot prowler threatened to kill him and showed how he and his son took the man down.

"I get over here with the stove, and I whacked him four times (with a wooden stool). I am giving him the knee kicks to the ribs," Ruben demonstrated.

"I hit him a couple of times. I ended up in a headlock. My dad was picking himself up off the floor," said Dan, who had stitches on his forehead where the intruder hit him with a coffee pot. "I just held on for dear life. I was choking him."

Ruben also has 14 stitches on his head, where the intruder struck him with pots and pans.

While the struggle was going on, Ruben's 83-year-old wife was in a back bedroom calling 911.

When police officers arrived, father and son were still wrestling with the intruder.

"Policeman said: 'let him go, get up.' So he got up. But I am still there, and I give him another extra shot," Ruben explained.

Ruben is no stranger to fights for he was a champion boxer when he attended Pasadena Junior College in 1952.

The suspect, identified as Gregory Park, 36, remained hospitalized and will be charged with attempted murder, police said.

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