KEARNS — Chad Morley went to his dad's house about 6:30 a.m. Thursday for an early morning cup of coffee.
When he returned to his house a few hours later and walked through the garage door, he saw hundreds of DVDs, a laptop, digital camera, stereo speakers and other items lined up near his backdoor as if they were about to be carted off.
The screen door had been pried open.
"I knew what was going on," Morley said. Morley, who always keeps a handgun nearby, drew his weapon and pointed it toward the floor. Then he heard a noise, and just as he was going to check the upstairs area, he saw a white tennis shoe behind the corner.
Morley raised his gun. As he went to investigate, a man darted out and slammed a door into him. The door hit Morley in the forehead, opening a huge gash. The two fought over the gun, both throwing elbows and punches at each other. By that point, Morley said, so much blood was dripping from his head that his hands became slippery and he could no longer hold onto the gun. The next thing he knew, the intruder was pointing Morley's gun right at him.
"I saw the look in his eyes, it was desperation," Morley said. "He had the gun pointed at my chest."
Just as Morley turned to move out of the way and take control of the weapon, the man fired, striking Morley in the right arm just above his armpit. The bullet went through the front of his arm and out the back.
"It spun me around ... threw me backwards."
As Morley ran out the front door, the intruder ran out the back, kicked open the chain link gate and ran off.
Morley said he tried to cross the street to the house of his neighbor, who is a law enforcement officer. But Morley, who was already weakened from numerous recent knee surgeries and an infection, could only crawl in the middle of the street to get across. Soon, he had trouble breathing, he said.
When paramedics arrived, they drove him to a nearby parking lot where a helicopter took him to Intermountain Medical Center.
After receiving about 10 stitches to his forehead and a bandage that wrapped around his upper arm and shoulder, he was allowed to go home a couple of hours later.
Looking back on the incident, Morley said his only regret wasn't backing out of the house once he knew someone was there but failing to use his gun faster.
"I wish I could have caught him. Criminals are stupid," he said. "If I could do it over again I would have shot him. It's either you or him you know. I guarantee the next time someone comes in my house, they're getting that. The lesson others should learn from my mistake is take aggressive action. Learn from me — be as aggressive as you can."
The intruder was described as a male Hispanic last seen wearing a dark hat, dark clothes and a blue bandana, said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Paul Jaroscak.
Neighbors said there have been several burglaries in the area over the past year. People have had items stolen out of their garages, and in at least one incident a vehicle was taken.
Ironically, Morley was charged in 3rd District Court late last month with felony burglary and theft stemming from a Taylorsville incident earlier this year. He said he is innocent of the charges and anticipates they will be dismissed. In March the court accepted a guilty plea from Morley but held it in abeyance on a misdemeanor shoplifting charge.
Anyone with information on the shooting can call the sheriff's office at 743-7000.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com