CLEVELAND COUNTY, N.C. — A burglary suspect left crime scenes in multiple counties in North Carolina, but he bit off more than he could chew this week when he came face to face with a fearless couple.
Deputies took Gary Towery into custody outside of a home in Cleveland County, but it’s all thanks to a man with mixed martial arts training and his wife.
Kimberly Moore showed Channel 9′s Dave Faherty where she spotted a man stealing items out of her husband’s pickup truck in northern Cleveland County.
“He was just right at my door; by the time we got to the door, he lunged at my husband’s throat,” Kimberly said.
Moore and her husband, Jordan, say they had no idea the man in their yard was wanted for trying to rob a Dollar General in Burke County and for breaking into homes and cars in Cleveland County.
“He told me to bring it on, talking about whipping my hind end,” Jordan said, recalling the incident. “And I said, ‘Alright let me get my shoes on.’”
“So I backed in there, and by the time I come down my steps, he went to lunge at me, and I had to take him to the ground,” Jordan told Faherty.
“You can fight a little bit?” Faherty asked.
“Yeah, I’ve had some training in the past, I didn’t want to hurt him too bad.”
Jordan says he trained in mixed martial arts for two years, and he was able to quickly take Towery to the ground near his home. Then his wife held Towery’s gun until deputies arrived.
Towery is charged with attempted armed robbery, possession of stolen property, and breaking and entering into a motor vehicle. Deputies said his pickup truck was spotted both leaving the robbery and near the break-ins that were reported in Cleveland County.
The Moores are glad no one was hurt.
“I hope he gets help or put in jail and learns his lesson,” Jordan told Faherty.
“It was just shocking to me that it happened to us, but it ended here so that’s a good thing,” Kimberly said.
The couple noted that because deputies were in the area investigating the other thefts, they got to their home in less than a minute after Moore called 911.
(WATCH: Victim’s family asks for help finding driver of deadly hit-and-run in Cleveland County)
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