Berkshire County homeowner fights back against would-be burglar
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Most police officers will tell you to not take criminal matters into your own hands. A homeowner in Adams, Massachusetts in Berkshire County decided he had no choice but to ignore that advice. Now police have a death investigation on their hands.
It happened Thursday afternoon at 57 Spring Street.
Thomas Granger, 73, said when he got home, there was a man drilling into his gun safe, and the man threatened him with the drill.
Granger said he picked up a baseball bat in self-defense and began bashing the burglar, Mark Bednarz, 56, a career criminal who has done prison time for similar crimes, said sources.
Bednarz has burglarized Granger’s home – said Granger – at least three times in the last month, previously stealing money.
After the first break-in on January 21, Granger said police set up a surveillance camera outside his home and believes that camera captures Bednarz coming and going on at least two other occasions.
Most police officers will tell you to not take criminal matters into your own hands. A homeowner in Adams, Massachusetts in Berkshire County decided he had no choice but to ignore that advice.
The camera did not capture this recent bloody, knockdown, drag out, half-hour fight for their lives. One combatant had a baseball bat. The other one had an electric drill and then a soup can.
Granger – who still has 10 stitches in his forehead from the attack – believes Bednarz was “on something” describing him as having tiny snake eyes, dilated pupils, and acting crazy. He said he stumbled outside to flag down police.
Both men were taken to Berkshire Medical Center, where Bednarz died the next day.
State police have now taken over the investigation. An autopsy on Bednarz has now been completed.
No charges have been filed in the case as of now. The district attorney’s office is awaiting the completion of its ongoing investigation.