Elderly Veteran Kills Home Intruder Who Attacked His Wife  By Jason Hall,  Feb 18, 2021

A Vietnam War veteran acted quickly after his wife was attacked by a home intruder carrying a large knife recently.

Herbert Parrish, 82, and his wife, Lois, 79, were inside their South Carolina home when they heard a knock on their back door Monday (February 15), FOX 57 reports.

Lois opened the door to find a man claiming to be looking for his chihuahua and asked if she had seen it. Lois told him "no" and the situation became violent, with the man pushing his way inside as she attempted to close the door.

A police report states the man pulled out a large knife and began attacking Lois before Herbert decided to fight back.

“I felt, we’re gone. He’s going to kill us and take what he can take,” Herbert told FOX 57. “He was not going to go out that door and leave us alive. That’s the way I felt. That’s why I said, 'I’ve got to do something quick and get the edge on him. Get the advantage on him,'”

Herbert grabbed his shotgun hanging on the wall of the door and hit the intruder with the handle of the gun "at least 10 times right in the face" until he was unconscious.

The intruder was identified as Harold Runnels, 61, and later pronounced dead at the Augusta University Medical Center late Monday night from injuries sustained during the incident.

Lois told FOX 57 that Runnels lived in a nearby mobile home and she had seen him walking around the area in the past.

FOX 57 reports both Herbert and Lois Parrish experienced injuries during the attack, but are both expected to make a full recovery.