ATLANTA,None — A metro Atlanta baby sitter said her "Kill 'em with Kindness" motto practically saved her life.
Lilly Thorpe was baby-sitting a 3-year-old boy at a home in Buckhead Friday when home invaders armed with bats stormed inside, forcing Thorpe and the boy into the basement.
Thorpe said she was in the kitchen and the boy was in the living room watching TV.
"I saw them coming, it was all so fast, I saw this big guy coming up to me, and I thought 'Oh my God,'" said Thorpe. "I told them, ‘Please don't hurt anybody.'"
Thorpe said her first reaction was to fight.
Nanny Offers Home Invaders A Coke
"I was around the island, and I had a big knife there," she said. And I was grabbing the knife, and he told me 'Put it down', I said OK, I'm sorry.'"
But Thorpe had a specific strategy to keep herself and the child safe.
She sat down with Channel Two Action News reporter George Howell to talk about the frightening ordeal.
Thorpe, who admits watching crime shows, told Howell that she offered one of the men a Coke as they searched the house.
"Yeah, I saw it on TV. You can take the DNA from their saliva," said Thorpe.
They didn't take the Coke, but Thorpe said her strategy worked because it helped defuse the situation.
"They were laughing! They also asked me for my money because they couldn't find money around the house."
As the thieves searched the house, Thorpe fed the boy chocolate to keep him calm. She even found a way to distract the boy from what was happening.
"Charlie asked me, 'What are they doing here?' And I told him, 'We are playing hide and seek, and the other guy went to hide, you know.'"
Fidel Vela was working outside to paint a gate and came face to face with one of the men - walking out of the house carrying a gym bag.
As soon as Vela started asking questions, the men took off. Charlie's parent's arrived just as police showed up.
Police later arrested Donda Bridges in connection with the home invasion. They are still looking for the second man.
WSBTV
