News 12 First at Five, January 28, 2007

AUGUSTA, Ga.---One man admits he shot another, but it's the man who was shot who went to jail.

The Thurman family says after they were robbed twice, they got a security system and a gun. Now, they say, they've both come in handy.

"As soon as [the motion sensor] went off, we were able to look out the window and see that he had opened the door to the truck," said Michael Thurman.

He says he thought it was a burglar.

So he grabbed his gun, ran downstairs and went outside.

"When I saw him right here I said hey what are you doing?" Thurman said.

An incident report shows the suspect, Jeffery Whitt, started to run to a dark part of the yard.

Thurman says he couldn't see him and was afraid he might be going to get a gun.

"Anything could've been in [the] area, so I did what I thought I needed to protect myself and my family. I fired a few shots,"

One of those shots into the dark hit the suspect in the leg.

Whitt kept running down the street and ended up at Macedonia Baptist Church.

Deputies arrested him and took him to MCG.

Thurman says his GPS system was missing and deputies found one between his house and the church.

Michael's wife says she's glad her husband stood up for her.

"I am proud that I have a husband that would protect his family," Angela Thurman said.

Michael's thankful his bullet only hurt the suspect, but even happier it helped deputies catch him.

But still, he says he and his wife may have some sleepless nights.

"I'm still shaking from the incident. Going through anything like that is horrible," Michael said.