Strangers repay woman’s kindness with robbery at gunpoint
Published 12:15 pm Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Paula Holder is naturally inclined to show kindness to strangers, often letting them into her house to use the phone.
“My husband gets onto me all the time because I’m so nice,” Holder told the Weatherford (Texas) Democrat.
Monday night, however, that kindness was repaid with robbery at gunpoint.
A man Holder described as about 18 to 20 years old and slender with short hair arrived at her house just after dark and asked to borrow her phone.
“I said, ‘Yeah, come on in. Get out of that rain,” Holder said.
She added that after the man finished his call, she offered him a ride before he left on foot.
The man returned after she had gone to bed and rang the doorbell, she said. Recognizing him, Holder said she opened the door, wondering what had happened.
The man pulled out a pistol, pointed it between her eyes and told her to back up and let him in, she said.
A man accompanying the first suspect was older, wearing a mask, also held a handgun and the two men shared similar Hispanic accents, she said.
The men demanded cash, according to Holder’s account.
She gave the men a small amount of cash from the kitchen but they wanted more, she said.
According to Holder, two other adults and an 8-month-old child were home at the time of the robbery. She said she was particularly concerned about her young grandchild in a nearby room as one man searched the house.
When the men failed to find any more money, they ran across the street into the woods, Holder said.
Her daughter’s boyfriend fired several rounds at the suspects, Holder said.
She said she’s taken down her sign advertising eggs for sale and won’t be letting strangers in the house any more.
“Don’t be a nice guy,” Holder advised.
No one had been arrested in connection with the robbery as of Tuesday afternoon, according to a sheriff’s office spokeswoman.
The Weatherford (Texas) Democrat contributed to this story.