‘Is this a joke?’: 92-year-old woman confronts two armed men breaking into her home

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WPDE) – A 92-year-old woman from South Carolina could not believe her eyes when two gunmen broke into her house Sunday.

Agnes Ebert managed to get the attempted burglars to leave simply by talking to them.

Police in Horry County are still searching for the three suspects.

Ebert said she was watching a Hallmark movie when she heard her security system say the back door was open. Shortly after, two masked men, each holding a gun, walked into her house.

Ebert quickly confronted them.

“Thought it was a joke, that’s what I said to the kids, ‘Is this a joke? Who are you? And is this a joke?’ I have a lot of boys, and boys like to play jokes, but they never played one like this,” she said. “But they each had a gun.”

Ebert said the men then walked out of her house and remained in the neighborhood.

Tim Dearmey, a neighbor who lives across the pond from Ebert, said he’s never seen anything like this during his three years of living in the neighborhood.

“A lot of times you leave the house and you’re only going to be gone for an hour, so you just leave the doors open,” he said.

Neighbors said they were happy nothing was stolen, but they feel as though their sense of security has been stripped.

Ebert said to never take anything for granted and warns that bad things can happen even in quiet neighborhoods.

The resilient woman said she had a reason for staying strong.

“You have to be like that. It comes with age I think,” she said. “I have 8 children, and almost 30 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren and it just … you never know what to expect. So although I never expected that.”

Neighbors said the incident has spooked them and they hope residents will soon beef up their security measures.

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