Also on guard.

After a series of liquor store robberies in the area, the owner of Sherwood Liquor Fair of Ewing, Pennsylvania, decided to sleep in his store to guard it.

Mr. Baran, the storeowner, said that he was sleeping behind the counter at about 6:15 a.m. on August 30 when he was awakened by glass breaking. After activating the store's silent alarm, he grabbed some pepper spray, armed himself, and approached the burglar, reported the Trentonian (Trenton, N.J.).

Coming up behind the burglar, Baran intentionally made a noise so that the thief would turn around. Baran then dosed the burglar with pepper spray. The face full of spray didn't stop the man, however, and the thief physically attacked Baran. In the midst of their battle, the thief grabbed the hammer that he'd used to break the glass to enter, and Baran shot at him twice, Apparently hit, the thief nevertheless fled. The burglar managed to escape to his car, but as he drove away, Baran shot into the car's engine compartment, hitting it twice.

Owing to detective work done after the previous liquor store robberies, investigators had a suspect, and they immediately converged on his house. When they verified bullet damage to the suspect's car, a detective telephoned the suspect, Patrick Falcey, and convinced him to surrender.

Falcey was arrested after being treated for a leg wound. He had been arrested previously for theft and drug charges.