Dori: Pierce County man fends off ax-wielding home intruder, would-be car thief

Running on only a few hours of sleep, a Pierce County man was awakened in his Edgewood home Monday night by one man banging on his kitchen window and another in his driveway, breaking into his pickup.

“This ain’t good,” homeowner Steven recalls telling himself while calling 911. Seconds later, while on the line with the emergency dispatcher, Steven told Dori Monson Show listeners, “I hear my backdoor window explode.

“They’re getting in my house, lady,” he recalls yelling at the operator. “I turned around and he was in my hallway, swinging an ax on me.”

Trying to protect himself, his girlfriend, and a five-month-old baby, Steven told Dori that he grabbed the only thing separating the two men: a metal folding chair.

“I was keeping him a little bit at bay with that,” Steven remembers.

“You’re like a lion tamer, fighting him off with that metal chair,” Dori chimed in.

“Yeah, in Jay Inslee’s circus,” Steven responded.

Before Pierce County Sheriff’s deputies could arrive on the scene three minutes later, the intruder barreled back out the broken door. On the burglar’s way out, “he grabbed all of our keys to everything we have and got back in my truck.”

While one of the men escaped with his pickup, the thief “left his buddy behind,” Steven explained. Deputies were able to arrest him and get the identity of the car thief.

Meanwhile, Steven told Dori, “The other guy – he’s got or keys, so we’re stuck at home with no vehicle, we need a new back door and we need to get keys for our other vehicles so we can get around.

“I was thinking to myself, ‘this is stupid,’” Steven said. “I think it’s disgusting that these people – nothing happens to them. This is a daily occurrence for them. This is how they live. We’re the ones who get punished for it in more ways than 10.”

Listen to Dori Monson weekday afternoons from noon – 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.