Butler man shoots, injures home intruder: 'I didn't want to kill him'

BUTLER, Pa. (KDKA) -- When Jeremy Cox encountered a stranger who had broken in through his basement, he stayed calm. He says he had his gun and fired a warning shot. When that didn't seem to scare off the mystery intruder, he fired again.

That second shot allowed Jeremy Cox to get control of the situation and get Nathan Harvey to the ground. 

"And he started to try to get up again and thankfully the police were right there when that happened and I was able to back away," Cox said. "If they would have been two minutes later, we'd be having a different conversation, I think."

Cox says it all happened in less than 5 minutes on Wednesday evening. He and his girlfriend heard a loud scraping and realized it was coming from a locked basement door at their Sterling Avenue home. His girlfiriend grabbed the phone to call 911 while Cox grabbed his 40 caliber pistol. 

"I didn't want to kill him," Cox said. "I didn't want to have to take another human being's life."

He says the first shot was a warning, hoping to scare him off.

"He took another step forward so I shot his waist," Cox said. 

Harvey was grazed in the stomach by that second bullet.

Cox says although the intruder didn't seem to be armed, he did seem to be highly intoxicated, which Cox says impacted his split-second decision making. 

"Everyone's going through hard times and I pictured him going through a hard time in his life and I just, given his condition, I didn't want to take his life and then deal with that type of regret that maybe he was struggling and he has kids and I have kids and all of those things are just going through my brain while that was happening and now after it's happening," Cox said. 

A few days removed from the incident, Cox says he's still having a hard time believing what happened but says he hopes what happened is a wakeup call for Harvey.

"Get help," Cox said. "You're not alone. Life is -- it's a gift, and you were just given a second chance, in my opinion. So use it wisely."

Turns out Harvey has been wanted by the Butler County Sheriff's Office for several years stemming from a 2012 DUI.

He was taken to the hospital to be treated and observed. But because of that warrant from the sheriff's office, the sheriff says once he's out of the hospital, he'll head straight to jail.

In connection to this incident, he faces felony burglary charges.