PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A home invasion — right across the street from an elementary school in Point Breeze — what began as a burglary, ended in a confrontation when the victim fought back.

“I’d heard pounding on the door a couple of times – knocking,” homeowner Jerry Smith said.

Smith, who is 86 years old, ignored that pounding on his door Friday morning.

What he couldn’t ignore was the man and woman – both black – coming up the stairs as he walked out of a second floor bathroom at his home on South Linden Avenue in Point Breeze.

“She threw me on the bed – two pillows over my head, top of me – she had a knife,” Smith said.

Smith says he kicked the woman off, she then tried to bind his hands and ankles.

“And then he came and knocked me on the floor and hit me with his fist,” Smith said.

It appears that the pair was intent on burglarizing the place – thinking nobody was home.

“The policemen, the detectives and I discovered one door was unlocked,” Smith said.

That side door was the likely point of entry.

Smith, a semi-retired psychologist, who’s still recovering from knee-replacement surgery, called 9-1-1, but declined medical help.

“The paramedic was here,” Smith said. “I said I could use a stitch – but I’ll just put a butterfly clamp on it.”

Smith described his attackers.

“She was heavyset – either a black or Hispanic woman – about 250 pounds, I would say,” Smith said.

The man has a thin build, about 5-foot 10-inches tall.

Although police might not think that fighting back is always the wisest thing, Smith told KDKA’s Mary Robb Jackson that it was instinctive – that there was no way he was going to let them tie him up.

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