Don't mess with Fred Ricciutti
Posted on 05/22/2012 2:50:33 PM PDT by dennisw
When soldiers come home from their tours of duty, they generally don’t have a need to pull their weapons out anymore. But 84-year-old vet Fred Ricciutti held on to his, and it’s a good thing he did. He was forced to use the same gun he carried on the frontlines of the Korean War in the early 1950’s to shoot a prowler who broke into his Pittsburgh-area home on Tuesday. Sixty years later, it still does what it’s supposed to do. Too bad somebody had to find that out the hard way.
Turns out next door neighbor Raymond Hiles, 25, had broken into the home the elderly man shares with his wife around 4:30 in the morning, ostensibly to rob them. The couple was staying downstairs because Mrs. Ricciutti was sick, but apparently her hubby kept his heat stashed conveniently in various areas of the house. He opened a drawer, pulled out his gun, yelled a warning, and fired a shot that hit Hiles right in his neck and of course, thwarted his breaking and entering.
This isn’t the moral of the story just yet, but this seems like a good place to stop and just ruminate on Hiles’ behalf. Think senior citizens are an easy target for crime? Bet he wasn’t banking on the man of the house being a gun-blazin’ sharpshooter with the aim of a guy half his age. So the perpetrator, in this case, ended up being a surprise victim. "In the war, I experienced a lot of bad things, but I had never experienced that in my own house," the Italy-born Ricciutti said about the invasion. Sorry you had to go through that, but good for you nonetheless, sir.
There’s more. Hiles’ family, who live across the street from the Ricciuttis, came over after word got around of the incident and tearfully apologized for his actions. "I know the family. They're good people," the older man said. He forgave them, he added, because he couldn't hold them responsible for Hiles' actions. Considering some neighbors develop all-out vendettas against one another other for letting the grass grow too high, that’s amazing.
As for Hiles, he was arrested a few blocks away carrying a screwdriver and a stun gun, which the doofus thankfully never got a chance to use. That man was really going to go in and shake those poor old folks up—right across the street from his family home, at that. I can only think of one thing that would drive an otherwise normal man to creep into the home of his aged neighbors in the middle of the night. At any rate, he's being held on $100,000 bail on charges including criminal trespass and burglary.
No charges will be brought against Ricciutti, however, who is now a hero three times over: once for his service in the war, once for protecting his wife and his home, and once for immediately extending the kind of forgiveness that people talk about, but rarely demonstrate.
Hmmmmm, I did not see mention of what the weapon was.
My grandfather had his 45 m-1 semi auto in a calvery style holster he brought back from France after ww1. It still shoots remarkedly well.
“I did not see mention of what the weapon was.
Howitzer.
My guess is, since it did say it was a handgun, that it was a M1911A1 .45 cal. pistol if it was his Korean War issue weapon.
Shot the punk in the neck? More range time required as shot was 6 inches low.
It was definitely an AK-47, Glock, or some other kind of assault rifle, according to the media :)
What weapon did he use? 1911 or an M1 Garand?
Good for Fred Ricciutti . This kind of story warms my heart.
“What weapon did he use? 1911 or an M1 Garand?”
Either one and the perp should feel lucky his head is still attached after a neck shot....red
Had to be the 1911. If the perp had been grazed in the neck with a thirty-ought-six there’d be no head still attached.
Too bad it wasn’t the Garand.
Would have garnered the Dirty Harry motto, “No trial, No reprt to file!”
I assume it was a 1911 Colt.
It says he pulled it out of a drawer so I’m thinking it was a 1911
I’m thinking that if he had been shot in the neck (at close range) with an M1, the dirtbags head would be dangling from rags of shreaded flesh. Dead.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.