Bend man, 79, stops burglar without a shot – or bullets

(Update: Comments from homeowners; gun had no ammunition)

A 79-year-old northwest Bend homeowner and retired police officer recounted his confrontation with a naked burglar early Monday morning in which he used his gun to stop the man — even though he fired three times, only to learn it wasn’t loaded. So he hit the man repeatedly to keep him on scene until police arrived.

Police were dispatched around 5:35 a.m. to the 2600 block of Northwest Nordic Avenue on a report of a burglary in progress, Lt. Clint Burleigh said. The woman told the dispatcher a man had broken into their home and was being held at gunpoint by her husband.

Burleigh said their investigation found that Shelton White, 45, of Bend, had broken a window of the home and was trying to get in when he was confronted by the residents, who had awakened to loud banging.

Jerry Poole, the homeowner, was a little sore and has a scratch on his arm after he defended his home.

Clean-up crews were at the home, dealing with broken glass and spots of blood.

“I told him, ‘You’d better get out of here, because otherwise, I’m going to shoot you,” said Poole, a retired California Highway Patrol lieutenant.

And Poole said he indeed pulled the trigger — three times. That’s when he realized he didn’t have any ammunition in it — and wasn’t about to retreat and go get it. So he struck the intruder with it, instead — three blows, instead of three shots.

Poole said it was odd to see a naked man trying to break into his place.

“No socks, no shorts, no nothing. I couldn’t figure out what he was doing,” he said.

A struggle ensued, as the resident tried to keep White out of his home, the lieutenant said, adding that both men sustained injuries.

Along with Bend police, Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies responded to the home and took White into custody without further incident, Burleigh said.

Poole received medical treatment at his home, while Bend Fire and Rescue medics took White to St. Charles Bend for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

Poole’s wife, Susan Poole, called police and later recalled how scared she was for her husband.

“I was terrified, because you never know if he was going to have a weapon or my husband was going to get shot,” she said.

White was not known to the residents, Burleigh said, adding that “drugs and/or alcohol were found to be a factor in this case.”

White faces charges of first-degree burglary, fourth-degree assault and second-degree criminal mischief, the spokesman said.

White was booked into the Deschutes County Jail shortly before 11:30 a.m. Monday and released shortly before 1 p.m. after posting 10 percent of his $35,000 bail, a jail officer said.