Victims beat home invader with his shotgun, records show

Man charged in attack is former friend

By Keith W. Kohn, Orlando Sentinel
12:22 p.m. EDT, May 26, 2010

The man arrested in a home invasion Thursday night in which he and two victims were hospitalized was injured when the two people in the house fought back, records show.

The sheriff's report shows Michael Lessard, 25, was wearing a bulletproof vest, mask and gloves when he barged into the home on Athens Court near Apopka and fired a shotgun at a former friend.

The incident report also shows the gunman fired at the former friend, but he jumped up as the pellets struck the floor and they missed. The former friend, Vu Nguyen, 25, and his mother, Tuyet To, 47, then struggled with the intruder. They rushed him, and Nguyen was able to pull the shotgun away and they continued to fight over a handgun.

The fight soon moved outside, where Nguyen's mother continued to batter the attacker's face with the shotgun. To, the mother, kept up her barrage until the man gave up and neighbors came and helped keep him on the ground until deputies arrived.

Lessard, Nguyen and To were hospitalized with injuries from the fight, but as police spoke to witnesses, Lessard's car was identified as one at the scene when the house was bombed March 20. A police dog identified the car as possibly containing bomb material and the county bomb squad was called out. Squad members went over the car and the scene was cleared.

Nguyen said their friendship soured when he claimed Lessard began treating their friendship as an "intimate relationship" in 2008.

Items found in the car with ties to the March bomb incident were turned over to the FBI's Jopoint Terrorism Task Force.

Lessard remained — beaten and bruised —in the Orange County Jail on Tuesday without bail.

From: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/crime/os-family-fights-back-20100526,0,4603685.story