11-01-2005, 06:18 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Southern California
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|  Man, 83, discusses shooting at home
http://www.vindy.com/content/local_r...5571786744.php Quote:
vindy.com
Man, 83, discusses shooting at home
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Walter Swita has been carrying a gun since a previous attack.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN — Walter Swita used a German Luger 9 mm pistol he brought home from World War II to shoot an intruder he suspects robbed him a few weeks ago.
The intruder, Benjamin Brooks, 44, of East Philadelphia Avenue, died Sunday at St. Elizabeth Health Center. Swita shot him in the head and chest around 10:30 p.m. Friday.
Brooks, whose record included robbery and breaking and entering, lived around the corner from Swita.
"Watch out for the blood on the rug," Swita, 83, said as he welcomed a reporter into the living room of his South Avenue home Monday. "That's his blood. I hit my head on the TV stand when we fell."
The elderly man's 80-year-old two-story house is in the middle of a commercial district that features bars, eateries and other businesses. As a safety precaution, he's considering cutting back or removing a large bush that obscures his front porch.
"I think he's the one who attacked me about six weeks ago in the back yard," Swita said of Brooks. "He smashed me hard in the face and when I fell down he looked through my wallet and took $60."
Changed a few habits
Swita said he started carrying his German Luger after the attack, not sure whether the vintage pistol would even fire. He said he served in General George Patton's 3rd Army but didn't shoot at anyone. He repaired tanks and Jeeps.
After the first robbery, Swita, who lives alone, began parking across the street when he returned home, not in his rear yard driveway. He'd hide the pistol against his leg until he was safe inside.
Swita said that on Friday night, a man he'd seen hurrying up East Philadelphia grabbed him around the neck as he reached the porch and unlocked the door. The elderly man said he fired two shots at the intruder and they fell to the floor.
His account
Swita, "shaking like a leaf," said he sat down to call 911 to report the shooting. The call taker asked if the man who'd been shot was breathing. Swita said he told her he didn't care.
He assumed the intruder would die because of the shot to the head. He doesn't expect to be charged with any crime, reasoning that he just defended himself in his own home.
"Was I scared? You bet, both times, whoof!" Swita said, exhaling as he recalled the frightening encounters. "You don't know what they'll do to you. A witness said there were two [other] guys waiting on the sidewalk and they ran when they heard the shots."
Swita figures Brooks would have let the two men in to ransack the house.
Swita said he never married and retired in 1984 from the William Pollock Company as a lay-out man for steel ladles. He dotes on a sister who lives in Poland, takes her to play bingo every evening.
The night Brooks was shot, Swita was returning from his sister's.
A lot of people have told Swita that he should move but he says he's got 80 years of junk in the house and will likely stay. He wants his Luger back from the police, though, for protection.
"Plus, it's probably worth $1,500."
meade@vindy.com | Walter Swita :right: :right: :right: :right:
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