An 87 year old woman from the state of Maine fought off an intruder
who broke into her house in the middle of the night and threatened her, okay?
But despite physically attacking this woman,
marjorie Perkins that's her name, in good old fashioned, like,
grandma fashion, basically fed him and ended up controlling the situation and
not getting robbed, not getting hurt as a result of it.
So Marjorie Perkins was asleep in her home in the Bay Bridge Estates neighborhood,
apparently around 02:00 a.m last Wednesday,
when she woke up to a teenager standing over her, which is terrifying.
>> Speaker 2: That's terrifying. >> Speaker 1: It's one of my
biggest fears, to wake up and there's an intruder.
>> Speaker 1: That's the worst.
>> Speaker 1: But anyway, according to her description of the events,
she says that the intruder, he said, I'm going to cut you.
And I thought to myself, if he's going to cut, I'm going to kick.
So I jumped into my shoes.
>> Speaker 2: That's my whole philosophy for life.
If he's gonna cut, I'm gonna kick.
>> Speaker 1: And then she continues to say, he grabbed me by my shoulders and
pushed me against the wall, and so forth, she explained in a separate interview.
So she grabbed a nearby chair, she said, and I kept hitting him.
But while the chair was used as a shield, she screamed for help out the window.
No one heard her.
It's the middle of the night, and apparently the intruder ended up punching
her in the forehead, and she got a bruise as a result of that.
Then she continued to fight back, kicking him and
using the chair to basically push him away.
And eventually, the teen whose pants and shoes were off in a pile by
the windows air conditioning unit got tired and made his way to the kitchen.
He's like, fighting off this 87 year old woman really makes me tired.
>> Speaker 2: Going eleven rounds is tough.
You got to do the cardio.
>> Speaker 1: I get that I'm a teenager and I should be way more energetic, but
I'm tired.
I'm gonna go to the kitchen.
He went to the kitchen, okay?
So he goes to the kitchen, and eventually she realizes, he wants a snack.
And by the way, this teenager used to do landscaping,
would mow the lawn for her years and years prior, so she recognized him.
I kept saying, you need to get out.
You need help.
He said he was awfully hungry and I hadn't had anything to eat for quite a while.
And I said, well, here's a box of peanut butter and honey crackers.
You can have that whole box.
I gave him two containers of Ensure, and I gave him two tangerines.
>> That's a balanced breakfast.
First of all, it's such like a grandma assortment of food to give.
But okay, so look.
>> [LAUGH] Totally.
That is clementines.
>> Speaker 2: Yeah, some Ensure.
And he's thinking, I was gonna ask if you had any Ensure.
So obviously the dark side of this is it seems like there's something going on with
that kid.
>> Speaker 2: Yes, let's not focus on the kids, let's focus on the grandma.
>> Speaker 2: Why are his pants off?
Why are his shoes off?
>> I don't know. >> Speaker 2: Clearly something is going
on, so I do feel bad.
You also snuck into an old woman's house and attacked her and
tried to beat her up and God knows what else.
>> Speaker 2: Yeah.
>> But she's great, I agree with that.
>> Speaker 1: We're not done with it.
>> Speaker 2: Okay, what else you got?
>> Speaker 1: So homeboy is munching on his Clementines.
And his Honeycrackers.
>> Bugles and Worther's original, yes.
>> Speaker 1: And so she's like, it's a perfect opportunity to call the police.
She has a rotary phone.
For those of you hold on.
Taylor, do you know what a rotary phone is?
He's not even paying attention.
Taylor is super young, super producer on.
>> Speaker 2: He's on TikTok right now, so can't listen to that.
>> Speaker 1: There is no way he has ever operated a rotary phone.
It's the one where there's, like a.
>> Speaker 2: Yeah, I did a little bit.
>> Speaker 1: I know we're old, we are.
We're considered middle aged.
It's over for us, okay?
It's end of it.
Pretty soon we're gonna have teenagers, like,
hovering over us as we're sleeping at night, looking to rob us.
That's what's gonna happen to us.
>> Speaker 2: Okay, it got bad at the end.
>> Speaker 1: Okay but anyway, so she goes to her rotary phone, she calls the cops.
The teen who was 17, according to Perkins, left before the police arrived.
A Brunswick police dog attacked the teen a few blocks away.
I don't like hearing about the dog attacking the teen.
>> Speaker 2: No not at all.
>> Speaker 1: Although what he did was wrong, anyway.
>> Speaker 2: I don't want dogs attacking anyone.
>> Speaker 1: He was taken into custody, according to police, and he was taken to
the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland and faces charges,
including burglary, criminal threatening, assault, consuming liquor as a minor.
Perkins said that the teen had a water bottle full of alcohol.
So if you're wondering about the pants and
all of that stuff near the air conditioning unit, he was probably drunk.
And here's another kicker.
She knew the intruder, as I mentioned earlier,
because he mowed her lawn ten years ago.
And this is what she said about that.
He did a darn good job.
I hope he gets help.
>> Speaker 2: God knows what would have happened to him in there if he'd done
a bad job a decade earlier mowing her lawn.
Yeah look, I like the way that she handled it.
You can see the food thing as a grandma thing or
trying to deal with a difficult situation.
>> Speaker 2: No, she's super smart. >> Maybe if I give him the food,
then he'll go.
>> She's super smart, yeah.
And she realized, okay, this is the best way to handle the situation.
He's going toward the kitchen.
Clearly, he's looking for something to eat.
So instead of fighting him, use the strategy of feeding him and
then hit up the rotary phone, call the police.
>> Speaker 2: Yeah, I wanna know what these peanut butter honey crackers are.
>> Cuz that sounds amazing.
>> Speaker 2: I don't even know what that is, it sounds great.
>> Speaker 1: They sound amazing.
I've had honey crackers, I've had peanut butter.
You just put them together cracker. >> Speaker 2: Honey crackers,
I don't know, that just sounds weird.
>> Speaker 1: They're just sweeter crackers.
They are though.
>> Speaker 2: That makes sense, yes.
I haven't seen it.
Anyway, okay now I'll ruin it.
Now imagine this entire same situation,
except in her bedside table, she has a gun.
Think about how much worse this goes.
She survived.
She got a bruise on her forehead, it's terrible.
It was a traumatic experience, but
thankfully nobody died as is generally the case when guns aren't around.
As soon as you put a gun in, then people start dying.
>> Speaker 1: Don't be judgmental about people who have guns for self protection.
>> Speaker 2: I'm just saying be careful.
That's what I'm saying.
>> Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean look.
>> Situation escalates quickly.
>> Situation would not have played out that way in my household,
let's put it that way.
And maybe that would be a tragedy.
>> You don't have the tangerines?
>> Speaker 1: I certainly do not have tangerines, and
I don't have honey crackers at the moment.
>> Speaker 2: Do you have Ensure?
>> Speaker 1: No, but I do have peanut butter.
>> Well, then clearly you're not prepared.
I'm just saying there are things that escalate situations,
and sometimes situations need to be escalated.
Sometimes they don't need to be escalated. >> Why did you have to go to
guns be guns John, you really did ruin.
>> I live in America, we all go to guns.
>> Speaker 1: Okay, I'm gonna turn it back around.
>> Speaker 2: Okay, do that.
>> Speaker 1: So she obviously has a lot of energy.
She's 87 years old.
When the fighting was happening, when the actual physical altercation was happening,
she was able to fend them off with the best of her ability.
>> Speaker 2: Which seems so weird.
How was she able to do that? >> Okay, it's not weird.
You wanna know why?
Because she's active.
Even though she's 87 years old, she teaches line dancing classes.
She's a little baddie.
I love her.
>> Speaker 2: So she's going around him, one, two, three, four and he's like,
I can't follow these steps.
I know, that's tough. >> That's amazing.
>> Speaker 2: Yeah. >> Speaker 1: Such a great story.
Anyway, I am glad it worked out the way that it did, and
I hope he does get the help that he needs.
It's kind of heartbreaking that he did.
>> Speaker 2: Yeah, it seems like he's in a tough spot.
Is he robbing other homes?
I don't know. But again,
this could have gone much worse for him.
Maybe this could be like a wake up call.
>> Speaker 1: I hope so.
I'm really hoping. >> Speaker 2: She seems like the sort of
like grandma who would be checking in on him later.
I would not be surprised if she did.
Maybe she could teach him some line dancing.
He could become a professional line dancer, and
this could be an inspirational movie someday.
It's not a bad movie, actually.
>> Speaker 1: That might be a great movie.
>> Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd write.
>> Speaker 1: What would the opening scene be?
Would it be the chairs of shield.
Or would it be yeah, I like it.
>> Speaker 2: It would be her at the store buying a big pack of Ensure,
not knowing how critical it'll be for a young man.