82-year-old Vietnam veteran fatally beats home invader with shotgun

AIKEN COUNTY, S.C. — An 82-year-old Vietnam veteran beat a home invasion suspect unconscious with a shotgun Monday, investigators said.

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Herbert Parrish and his wife Lois heard a knock at their back door around 2 p.m. from a man asking if they had seen a lost dog, WACH reported.

The man, Harold Runnels, 61, then pushed his way through the door, pulled out a large knife and started attacking Lois Parrish.

Herbert Parrish grabbed a shotgun that was hanging on the wall by the door and started hitting Runnels with it.

“I started hitting him in the head with the barrel and I know I must have hit him at least ten times right in the face, just as hard as I could hit him,” Parrish said.

Runnels was taken to a hospital where he died from his injuries, WACH reported.

The Parrishes were injured but are expected to recover.

Cox Media Group