"Quicke" thinking.

According to the December 25 St. Petersburg Times, a home intruder put a gun to the head of John Quicke of Spring Hill, Florida, ransacked his house, and stole his possessions. But Quicke got hold of his pistol and gave the fleeing intruder a going-away present--a couple of chunks of lead.

Before sunrise at 5 a.m. on Thursday, December 23, Quicke was drinking coffee in his bedroom when a masked robber brandishing a chrome-plated handgun entered the house through the open back door. The door had been left open because it was muggy.

The robber made Quicke lie on the bed while he tore apart the room looking for valuables. The robber soon found a safe in the closet and told Quicke to open it. He pointed the gun at Quicke's temple, telling him that he had 10 seconds to open the safe, implying that he would be killed if he didn't.

Because of the stress of the moment and the fact that Quicke rarely used the safe, which only contained papers, he was unable to open the safe. Quicke told the St. Petersburg Times, "I was so scared, I couldn't open that thing to save my life. I couldn't even think of the combination."

While Quicke worked at opening the safe, he tried to figure out a way to get hold of his pistol, which was in another room. When Quicke couldn't open the safe, the intruder didn't follow through on his threat to kill Quicke, but decided to leave with the valuables that he already had: a double-barreled shotgun, some cash, medicine, and a three-pound can of loose change.

As the robber fled, Quicke heard him trip and spill some of the change on the floor. While the robber was picking it up, Quicke retrieved his pistol. Running outside, Quicke heard the stolen change jangling in the dark, and he fired at the sound. Upon firing, Quicke heard the robber scream, indicating that his aim was good. The robber dropped Quicke's shotgun but continued to flee. When the police arrived in response to Quicke's 911 call, they followed a trail of change to a house about a half a mile down the road.

A person in the house indicated that the robbery suspect was at the local hospital for treatment of wounds to his wrist and buttocks. When police confronted the unnamed suspect, he claimed to have been shot in a drive-by shooting.

After confiscating Quicke's guns, police told him that the suspect was not arrested because the investigation was still ongoing, angering Quicke because he feared that the robber would retaliate. He said, "He's going to be back," and the "cops took my guns."

Quicke was also told that the robber had received treatment but still had the bullets in him.