In
By Todd C. Frankel and Denise Hollinshed
06/25/2006
EAST ST. LOUIS — After
her 87-year-old next-door neighbor fatally shot a burglar trying to come
through the front door, Eleanor Anderson - herself an older adult living alone
- began sleeping with two items under her pillow: a cell phone and a
gun.
The grandmother was intent on defending herself in a neighborhood that has
changed drastically since she was a young girl.
"Us being seniors, criminals don't think we'd do anything,"
There is something jarring about the image of a gray-haired grandma (or
grandpa) packing a pistol. And there is something laudable in the image of an
old-timer turning the tables on a criminal.
"People despise crime in
general," said Illinois State Police Master Sgt. James Morrisey,
who investigated the burglar shooting. "And elderly people are (thought)
of as easy prey for predators. I guess people like to see that victims are not
always victims."
Widespread attention followed February's shooting by
Then, earlier this month, 74-year-old city resident Willie Brown shot and
wounded an intruder standing at his bedroom door. More attention, and plenty of
praise, followed.
These shootings are not unique to
The two shootings, plus another two years ago when an 87-year-old resident
fired at a burglar, have heartened seniors. At a morning Bible study class held
at the Clyde C. Jordan Senior Citizen Center, older adults expressed pride
about the self-defense shootings, mixed with sadness that criminals were
preying on the elderly.
"People are fighting back," said Robert Haines, 62.
"The philosophy of turning the other cheek is certainly healthy. But not
to the extent that you become a victim," said Willie Harris, 63.
A few blocks away, Henry McKinzie, 70, sat outside
and recalled how his former neighbor, Nina Sloan, shot at a man trying to break
into her kitchen on
McKinzie and his wife looked after the elderly woman
for years. She had no family and lived alone. She died in March at age 89.
For McKinzie, the recent spate of seniors defending
themselves recalled Sloan's actions.
"We're proud of our elderly folk," he said.
'I'm in a foxhole'
Willie Brown also keeps his gun under his pillow.
On June 15, he was awakened by a knife-wielding burglar outside his bedroom on
"I reached behind my back and whipped my gun from under my pillow and
said, 'Take this .38,' and I blasted him," recalled Brown, a retired
Korean War veteran who keeps busy mowing lawns.
The burglar fled but a suspect was arrested later by police.
Although Brown successfully defended himself, he was shaken by the brazen
crime.
"It seems like I'm in a foxhole in my own home," he said.
"That's pretty bad."
East St. Louis Police Capt. Lenzie Stewart praised
the seniors for fending off the intruders, but he worries that another elderly
person might be hurt by their use of a handgun. He said the city needs to do a
better job of protecting its elderly citizens. But he understands why the
seniors stay, despite the threats around them.
"Most of the residents in this city," Stewart said, "they don't
want to give up where they live and were raised."
Jacksie Mae King rebuffed her daughter's attempts to
get her to move from her small cream-colored house on a dead-end street next to
a set of railroad tracks.
King, who celebrated her 88th birthday last weekend, had endured three
burglaries in the last four years, said her daughter, Pamela Paulette-Clark.
The family installed more window bars and a better alarm system after the first
two incidents. But King, who uses a walker, suffered a large black-and-blue
bruise on her face after a burglar in December beat her, her daughter said.
So Paulette-Clark gave her mom a .32-caliber Colt revolver. She told her how to
use it and explained that the bullets would shoot through a door.
On Feb. 7, King heard someone smashing a window on her house. It was a little after 2 a.m. She heard the intruder trying to open
the front door. She fired at least two shots into the door, hoping to scare him
off, police said.
Several hours later, Paulette-Clark entered through the house's back door. She
was coming to make her mom some breakfast. Her mom was seated at the kitchen
table. Next to her was the gun.
Paulette-Clark recalled her mother saying, "We had guests last
night."
She thought her mom meant mice. She hoped her mom wasn't trying to shoot at
rodents.
But then she walked to the front door and looked outside. There was a body.
Paulette-Clark said she walked back into the kitchen, called police and told
her mom, "Well, I have news for you - We still have guests."
King had no idea that she had killed the intruder, police said. In May, the
state's attorney's office announced it would not prosecute King for any crime,
including not having a gun permit.
King is remorseful about the shooting, said her neighbor Anderson.
"But it was going to be he or she," said Anderson, who sleeps better
with her gun under the pillow.