An 87-year-old woman fought off an intruder. Then she fed him snacks

After defending herself with a lawn chair, Marjorie Perkins, a retired school teacher from Maine, distracted the man with crackers while she called emergency services.

Marjorie Perkins said she gave the intruder crackers and peanut butter. Source: AP / News Center Maine

Key Points

• An 87-year-old woman from Maine used a lawn chair to fight off a teenager who broke into her house at night.
• The woman then offered him crackers and peanut butter to distract him while she called emergency services.
• The suspect has been charged with burglary, criminal threatening, assault and consuming liquor as a minor.

Marjorie Perkins, an 87-year-old woman from Maine, United States, woke up in the early hours of July 26 to a male teenager standing over her bed and threatening to cut her.

But the intruder picked the wrong home to break into, as the former elementary school teacher decided to fight back and then outsmart him.

“I jumped out of bed, got my shoes off real fast, because they don’t have ties, and I was ready to kick,” Perkins told News Center Maine.

“He grabbed me by the shoulders and pushed me against the wall and so forth, so I took my chair and I kept hitting him.”

The teenager punched her on the cheek and forehead, but eventually got tired and headed for the kitchen.

“He said he was very hungry, so I gave him crackers and peanut butter,” Perkins said.

“That was to keep him busy, what do you think? I taught school (for) 35 years,” she told CNN.

While the young man was distracted with the snacks, Perkins called the emergency line on her rotary phone.

The young man fled the scene, but police said in a news release he was quickly tracked down, as he was staying a few blocks away from Perkins. He left behind a knife, shirt, shoes and a water bottle containing alcohol.

The 17-year-old suspect has been charged with burglary, criminal threatening, assault and consuming liquor as a minor.