Intruder Stabbed To Death By Ohio Homeowner While Breaking Into Residence

A male intruder was stabbed to death after an encounter with a homeowner in an Ohio residence, according to police.

The incident took place just before 8 p.m. Sunday in the 340 block of Clarendon Avenue N.W. as police were responding to two separate reports of burglary on the same street. When officers reached one of the residences, they located a man with stab wounds laying unconscious on the kitchen floor. He was immediately taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The intruder was later identified as Michael Harper, 44, of Alliance, as per Canton Rep.

According to a 911 call released by police, the homeowner's wife said the latter walked into their home through an unlocked back door when the couple was sitting on the couch. Harper then got hold of a knife from the kitchen sink and tried to stab her husband, the woman added. However, the husband responded promptly, took the knife away from the intruder's hand, and stabbed him.

"It was the only choice my husband had," the unidentified woman said on the 911 call, according to the outlet. "We don't have firearms. This guy tried stabbing my husband, it was the only he could do."

She also informed 911 dispatchers that it appeared Harper came from a hospital, shirtless and had "patches all over his chest."

"Me and my husband were watching TV and he goes and grabs a knife from the kitchen sink and my husband takes it from him and my husband stabbed him," the wife said, Kansas City reported.

As the husband and wife were trying to counter the intruder, their 14-year-old child, who was upstairs, also called 911 for help.

"They're fighting with him right now?" the 911 dispatcher asked as per the details released by Ohio Police Department. "Yes," the teen replied.

Before he was stabbed, Harper had also intruded into a neighbor's house through an unlocked back door. He further had a confrontation with a woman in her upstairs bedroom before he left the scene. The woman's husband saw the shirtless man heading toward another house on the street.

On a 911 call, the woman informed police that the intruder was not wearing a shirt and asked if anyone else was in the home and if they had a firearm. He said he wanted to kill himself, the woman told dispatchers.

"He was asking if I had a gun," the woman said on the 911 call, as reported by Kansas City. "He said he wanted to kill himself and he needed help but my husband got him to go out the front door."

No charges were issued against the homeowner for stabbing Harper. An investigation was launched into the matter and the findings will be presented to the Stark County Prosecutor's Office. Police have asked people with any information to call the Canton Police Detective Bureau at 330-489-3144.