After a burglary suspect broke into an 82-year-old female bodybuilder’s home, he was immediately made to regret his choice when the scene that unfolded left a lot of jaws dropped, including his own.
Willie Murphy, an 82-year-old bodybuilder who can reportedly deadlift 225 pounds, was at her home in Rochester, New York, preparing to go to bed just after 11 pm on a Thursday night when she suddenly heard pounding from the other side of her front door, WHAM-TV reported. She didn’t know what was waiting for her outside, but she was prepared for whatever it may be.
After hearing someone pounding, Murphy, who lives alone, admits she was scared, but she still approached the door and asked the unexpected guest what they wanted. A man responded, saying he was “sick” and needed an ambulance, but Murphy refused to let him in. “He was outside and saying, ‘Please call an ambulance,’ saying, ‘I’m sick, I’m sick,'” she said.
The cautious woman called the police, but the man outside became enraged and forced his way into the elderly woman’s home. “I hear a loud noise,” Murphy recalled. “I’m thinking, ‘What the heck was that? The young man is in my home. He broke the door,'” she added, but she stayed calm and tried not to panic.
After all, Willie Murphy is an award-winning weightlifter who visits the YMCA on a daily basis and had just won a competition earlier that year. “He picked the wrong house to break into,” she said, and she was right because Murphy didn’t cower in fear. Instead, she jumped into action to defend herself and her home against the intruder.
In a news interview, Willie Murphy detailed the fight she found herself in against the burglary suspect, explaining that her home was dark, but she used that to her advantage. After sneaking up behind her unwelcomed guest, Willie Murphy grabbed a table, and then it was game on. “I picked up the table, and I went to work on him,” she recalled. “The table broke,” she added, but she didn’t let that stop her.
The man had fallen to the floor, so she began jumping on the intruder while he was on the ground. After successfully injuring the man, she grabbed a bottle of shampoo and dumped its entire contents all over his face. “Guess what?” Murphy said. “He’s still on the ground. In his face, all of it, the whole thing,” she recalled, describing the moment she used the shampoo to add insult to injury.
As the man was distracted, trying to wipe the shampoo from his face and eyes, Murphy used the opportunity to grab her next weapon. With a broom in hand, she began striking the suspect, making him further regret trying to make her his victim. “I got the broom,” she said. “He’s pulling the broom, I’m hitting him with the broom.”
Eventually, police officers arrived, and thankfully, it wasn’t Murphy who needed medical attention. “He’s laying down already because I had really did a number on that man,” Murphy explained, unapologetically. The suspect, who police say was intoxicated, was taken to the hospital. The next day, Willie Murphy returned to the YMCA, where she received a hero’s welcome.
Officers who responded to the scene were reportedly so impressed with Willie Murphy’s handiwork in defending herself and detaining the suspect that they requested to take photos with the 82-year-old weightlifter. “The officers that came wanted to go on my front porch and take selfies with me,” Murphy said, adding that she hopes her story will serve as an inspiration to people of all ages who hear it.
Willie Murphy is indeed an inspiration, and she provided the perfect reminder that, no matter how old we get, we should be prepared to defend ourselves. “I’m alone and I’m old, but guess what? I’m tough!” Murphy said, showing off her guns. This 82-year-old, who found herself facing danger, definitely proved the bad guys should never underestimate their intended victim because they might just find themselves having the tables turned — or even broken — on them.
