A 75-year-old military veteran fought off a pair of would-be robbers who followed and pepper-sprayed him in his home in Fullerton, California, over the weekend.
What happened: The incident, which was caught on security video, occurred in the 1000 block of Las Palmas Drive at around 12:30 p.m. on Sunday. The victim had just parked his Tesla in his garage when two men in hooded sweatshirts approached him and claimed that his car was damaged. They then pepper-sprayed him in the face and pushed him.
What the victim did: The unidentified victim, who served in the Republic of Korea Marine Corps, fought back and chased the perpetrators off his driveway. “He fought back hard and I think they were caught off guard because someone that old would fight back,” his son told KABC.
Good Samaritans help: What the robbers did not anticipate was the presence of a landscaping crew at the victim’s house at the time of their attack. After hearing the victim’s screams, they rushed to help chase the suspects with chunks of cement from the home’s front yard.
The bigger picture: Fullerton police said they believe the victim, who is Asian, may have been targeted due to his race, according to CBS News. They have also linked the incident to another attempted robbery in nearby Rowland Heights, which occurred about an hour later. The suspects in that incident also used pepper spray to steal a $2,500 watch from their 80-year-old victim, who just came home from a 99 Ranch Market, as per KTLA. The suspects remain at large.
