Stack has run Handy Rental from its current location on Highway 158 just outside Roanoke Rapids since 1996 after starting it in 1986.

“I had someone break in about two or three years ago,” Stack said today, three days after he shot a man identified as Cul Priest Jones, a 40-year-old ex-convict who was released from prison earlier this month.

He said he used to have break-ins of the fenced-in area of the business, but those subsided.

The person in the first break-in managed to turn off the power source and security lights. “I could hear him running,” Stack said. “I shot at him and missed.”

The burglar got $3 to $4 and left a tool bag and programmable scanner behind.

Friday night, about 20 minutes before midnight, Stack's son woke up to noises coming from inside the business, where the family also maintains an apartment. The son woke his father and Stack went to investigate. He immediately saw there had been an attempt to break-in to an electronic safe — Jones allegedly and unsuccessfully tried to break into two safes.

As Stack continued to investigate, he and Jones nearly ran into each other, Stack pointing a gun into the back of the intruder demanding he drop to the floor. “I was prepared. He wouldn't show me his hands. I tried to get him to lay down.”

During the struggle Stack got distracted by his son. That's when Jones punched him in the face and Stack tried to fire the first shot, his automatic handgun apparently jamming on the initial try. Stack bears a scratch between the bridge of the nose and his eye from the punch Jones, who was later discovered to have a gun and stun gun on him, threw.

After that Jones struck Stack on the shoulder and as they continued to struggle Stack fired a total of four shots, striking Jones in the forearm, pelvis area and twice in the middle torso, with investigators finding no evidence of exit wounds.

After those shots, Jones fled the building, Stack said, running toward a side door in which he apparently used all his force to break through. He fell shortly after between a forklift and the side of the building.

Stack, who will not be charged, said he had to do what he did to protect himself, his family and business. “I don't feel bad about it. I'm not happy about it. I just wished it hadn't happened.”

Stack is familiar with convicts, having helped his father for 10 years in a Florida prison ministry program called Peace in the Valley, one of its biggest success stories being Jack Rowland Murphy, also known as Murph the Surf, a jewel thief and murderer who upon his release from prison became a minister.

But why Jones got released on December 4 — 22 years into a 50-year sentence for shooting a Warren County deputy — Stack has no answer. “It's hard to say. He probably should have been in longer.”