A father of three kids, ages 9, 7 and 5 was forced to fight an man once he entered their home and started attacking him. Authorities are calling the man a hero.
It happened Monday just before 5 p.m. inside a home in the 3600 block of North Braeswood Boulevard.
Tony Houck was making tacos when his wife stepped out to make a quick trip to the grocery store. When Houck turned around, an unknown man was standing in his kitchen. The man had kicked the front door in and entered the home.
“I turn, and there was a guy standing in my face. A split second later he smacked me. We went at it. We went at it hard,” said Houck, via KHOU.
“He almost got me in a chokehold. I thought, this is for real. All of a sudden, this guy was trying to kill me,” Houck added.
The fight had gone into the living room from the kitchen when the three children and the 9-year-old’s friend ran out from the playroom.
“I knew as bad as it looked, I was still in control. As long as I had his hands, he couldn’t get to my kids,” said Houck.
The family’s nanny called 9-1-1 and watched the attack waiting for officers to arrive. Houck described the attacker as “crazed.”
“I let him up, and the next think you know, he jumped on my back. His fingers start going into my eyes, trying to gouge my eyes out,” he recalled. “Then, he just started biting me and went after my back.”
He remembered the attacker “chewing” on his back. His wife returned home to find investigators, medics and police surrounding her house.
Police aren’t sure why the attacker, identified as 32-year-old Noah Collier, chose this exact home but a source told KHOU that he may have been on PCP at the time of the attack.
He will be booked into the Harris County Jail on a charge of burglary of a habitation with intent to commit assault. Records show he has a long criminal history.
