ROCHESTER, N.Y. – An 82-year-old female powerlifter fought back against a man who broke into her home on Thursday night as she was getting ready for bed, using her daily workout regimen and various household items to overwhelm the intruder.
Willie Murphy, who attends the Maplewood YMCA in Rochester, N.Y., on a daily basis, was getting ready for bed around 11:00 p.m. when a man started banging on the door asking for an ambulance, while declaring “I’m sick, I’m sick.”
Murphy called the police and wouldn’t let him inside, which she says angered the man.
“I’m alone and I’m old, but guess what? I’m tough.”
Willie Murphy is 82. She's a powerlifter. When a 28-yr-old man tried to break into her house – she says she took him DOWN. pic.twitter.com/MFXyrG1um0
— Seth Palmer (@sethpalmer3) November 22, 2019
“I hear a loud noise,” she told WHAM-TV. “I’m thinking, what the heck was that? The young man is in my home. He broke the door.”
The award-winning powerlifter told the outlet she hid under the cover of night — picking up the nearest object — as the thief crept through her home.
“I picked up the table, and I went to work on him,” said Murphy, who can deadlift 225 pounds. “The table broke.”
“And when he’s down,” the woman with a warrior’s heart added, “I’m jumping on him.” After the table drop, Murphy grabbed a nearby bottle of shampoo and went to town.
“I grabbed the shampoo,” she told WHAM-TV. “Guess what? He’s still on the ground. In his face, all of it, the whole thing.”
82-year-old Willie Murphy says a man broke into her home late last night. The suspect likely thought she was an easy target. What he didn't realize – Murphy is an award winning body builder who still competes.
"I'm alone and I'm old, but guess what? I'm tough."@13WHAM pic.twitter.com/4VpwH3Xu8e
— Andrew Banas (@AndrewWHAM) November 22, 2019
She then grabbed a nearby broom and swept the floor with the unknown suspect.
“I got the broom,” she said. “He’s pulling the broom. I’m hitting him with the broom.”
When officers arrived, Murphy says the first responders wanted to take selfies with her and she even received a hero’s welcome when returning to her local YMCA.
“He picked the wrong house to break into,” she concluded.