A shotgun and a lecture.

Ever been awakened by pounding on your front door at about 1:30 a.m.? When Judie Martel woke up on January 25, her first thought was, "Is that thunder?"

A January 29 Seacoast Online article indicated that she barely had time to arise when the door nearly disintegrated and a stranger entered her Kennebunk, Maine, home.

"He was as surprised to see me as I was to see him," Martel told the reporters. The stranger appeared young, so her response was that she "scolded him like a mother would." Pushing the man back outside the door as she reprimanded him, she did what she could to close the shattered door.

Spotting what looked like a toolbox outside, she realized the man's invasion was not a mistake, but a burglary. Watching the man, she noticed with some concern that he was rounding the house toward an attached barn. Martel then ran upstairs to enlist the aid of her husband, and to call 911.

A sleeping John Martel awoke and reacted quickly. A Vietnam veteran, he inserted the single shell he kept in the house in his shotgun and ran downstairs. Once outside, he saw that the burglar had already broken into the family's barn and was now heading toward him. Martel aimed in the direction of the crook. Seeing that Martel was armed, the man ran.

Momentarily contemplating inflicting a fatal wound, Martel stated to the authorities, "I've had enough of killing. I shot over his head." However, Martel indicated to police that had the bad guy actually harmed his wife, his aim would have been different.

A report by officers from the Kennebunk Police Department, who also called in the State Police and a police dog, indicated that a search of the area located the burglar, Sean Barker, 24, of Richmond, Maine. Incredibly, after being shot at and with police on the scene, he was attempting to enter yet another nearby home.

Kennebunk Police Lt. Tony Burpee reported that police then located a backpack and discovered the tracks of another individual in the snow near the Martel home. The tracks helped lead authorities to a second thief, Eric Wallace, 22, of Topsham, Maine. Both men were arrested, and have been charged with felony burglary and are being held in the local York County Jail.

Lt. Burpee has credited the couple's quick thinking with preventing multiple crimes, and averting a potential tragedy for both the perpetrator and the victims.