The urban youth was armed with a shotgun, no word if it was the Joe Biden model.
An armed man who came to Neil Meisch’s residence near Seagrove and demanded his car keys got a severe beating instead from the 84-year-old former military policeman.
Meisch was so calm about it, his blood pressure never went up, his wife, 83-year-old Bonnie Meisch, said Friday afternoon.
Meisch was injured in the fight when the assailant struck him on the arm with a shotgun, jumped into the vehicle he had left running in the Meisch’s driveway on Little River Road and “tore out of here,” Bonnie Meisch added.
The suspect, identified as Tony Curtis Davis, 49, of 1005 N.C. 73, Jackson Springs, wrecked his car on winding Okeewemee Road in Montgomery County about 9:38 p.m. Thursday, where he was apprehended.
As the pieces of his rampage come together, Davis faces multiple charges, including kidnapping, from at least five law enforcement agencies.
The ordeal began for the Meischs about 8 p.m. on Thursday when there was a knock on the door. Bonnie opened it slightly to see who was there.
“There was a man with the storm door open and a gun in my face,” Bonnie said. “He ordered me to give him my car keys and I told him, ‘Hell, no,’ he wasn’t getting anything and yelled for Neil.”
Bonnie said Neil, a retired long-distance truck driver and former U.S. Air Force MP, came running into the room and never hesitated.
“He grabbed the man and took him for a ride off the porch,” she said. “All I could see then was fists.”
Davis managed to get halfway up and struck Neil on the forearm with the shotgun. Then Davis, who was accompanied by another man who later turned out to be his hostage, jumped into the car they had come in and left at a high rate of speed.
Neil Meisch was taken to Randolph Hospital, where he needed 18 stitches to close the wound on his arm that was so deep bone could be seen. Meischon told his family members he was usually a calm, easygoing man until someone messed with his wife.
Randolph Sheriff’s Det. Ed Blair said the incident started sometime earlier on Thursday, but authorities do not have a motive or a reason for Davis’ actions.
Blair said Davis is accused of kidnapping Marvin Williams, his former father-in-law, and Jason Tucker, his former son-in-law, and threatening to kill both of them.
Bonnie Meisch said she could tell the man with Davis either had something wrong with him or he was very scared. He was frantically waving his arms and saying he had nothing to do with this, but he didn’t try to help Neil, she said. Authorities laer identified him as Marvin Williams.
Montgomery Sheriff’s Det. Kelly Howell said that earlier in the day, Davis had gone to Marvin Williams’ residence on U.S. 220 Alternate, Star, where he obtained a shotgun and forced Williams into his vehicle.
Howell said Davis then drove Williams to an address on Rabbit Creek Road near Candor where Davis picked up Jason Tucker against his will. From there, Davis drove the two to the vacant parking lot in the Candor shopping center where a struggle ensued between Davis and Tucker.