An armed burglar picked the wrong house to break into on Long Island on Wednesday morning. Inside, he was met by three generations of a family that battled him until police could take over.

"I said, 'You want to kill me? I'll kill you, too'"

It was a nightmare to wake up to at 7 a.m., as police say Maria Merced, a pint-sized grandmother, fought off a knife-wielding masked man who had gotten into the Elmont house through a window.

"'Where is the money? Give me your money. I kill you,'" Merced said. "I say, 'What money? I don't have money. Get out of here.' I said, 'You want to kill me? I'll kill you, too.'"

Her daughter said she heard her mother's screams and joined the struggle. For 40 minutes, the two tried to wrestle his knife away.

"He was trying to stab her on her stomach," Maritza Merced said. "This became a battle inside, but we never let him go. The two of us ... I was holding him on the floor and my mother hitting him with a huge stick."

Grandson to the rescue

They said they held the suspect, identified as Frank Ramos of St. Albans, Queens, down until grandson Dajimy Castellanos woke up and was able to finally knock the knife out of his hand. Grandmother and grandson then chased the suspect down the block until police got involved.

"We were just holding him until we transferred him. We weren't going to let him go," Castellanos said. "We chose to spare his life and God can take it, and thank God we were able to get someone like that off the streets."

Accused has long criminal history, police say

In court, Ramos pleaded not guilty, although prosecutors say he confessed to police, who discovered a long rap sheet that includes 24 prior convictions, six failures to appear in court, numerous aliases, and four arrests just this year. Yet, he was walking the streets.

"Thank God we are still alive. It could have been worse, but tomorrow we don't know if he does the same thing. Not every woman is the same or has the same strength to defend themselves," Maritza Merced said.

Maria Merced, a retired racetrack worker, and her daughter, a nurse, suffered injuries that will require surgery, but they said they hope the suspect learns something from messing with the wrong people.

"Hopefully, he will appreciate life more, like we appreciated his life, even though he was trying to take our life away," Maritza Merced said.

As for Ramos, this time a judge ordered him held on $300,000 bail, calling him an extreme risk of flight.