A young family's peaceful night's sleep in a quiet Georgia suburb was disturbed in the most nightmarish way...until a quick-thinking father sprang into action.
Justin Couch, 38, and his wife Allison faced every parents' nightmare when a deranged man broke into their children's bedroom in Jackson, Georgia at 11:30pm Monday.
The couple and their three children were asleep when their 15-year-old son was awoken by the sound of his window shattering.
He then ran to his parents room to warn them, waking his dad.
'I've got to protect my kids, that was all that was in my mind,' Couch explained. 'In that moment I was terrified, I'm going to be honest with you.'
The suspect, identified by police asAbdil Aquil, had allegedly smashed his teen's window and began threatening to murder the family inside.
Couch grabbed his gun and opened fire as his children looked on.
The bullet did not strike the suspect, but it was enough to send him flying back through a window he was trying to crawl through.
But the ordeal did not end there, as the intruder then jumped back up and started stalking off down the street.
Georgia father Justin Couch has recalled the terrifying moment he was forced to shoot at a stranger who tried to break into his home in the dead of night whilst his family were inside
Abdil Aquil has been identified as the suspect by police and has been charged with a slew of offences
It took multiple taser-wielding to subdue Aquil and place him under arrest,Butts County Sheriff Gary Long said.
Couch recalled the terrifying moment he knew his family's lives were at stake.
'He starts yelling at me, telling me he's going to kill me and 'I'm going to beat your ass' and then he took off and started lunging towards my front door,' Couch said.
'I came around and he pushed my window so hard and with so much force that the entire casing of the window blew in and it flew about five feet, all way down the basement stairs.'
All the while, Couch's ten-year-old daughter was on his hip and his 15-year-old son was by his side. His wife had run to find their oldest son.
'The whole time they are beside me and I'm pointing my gun,' Couch added. 'He stepped back and then his hands went up and he shouted, 'come on motherf***er'.
'He was about three quarter in the house and he was shouting, 'I'm going to kill you' so I shot him one time'.
With his adrenaline pumping, Couch managed to keep his calm even after seeing the suspect flee down the street.
'I was just thinking I've got to protect my kids, but I don't want to kill someone in front of my kids,' Couch added.
'I've always been that person that said if anyone ever came in my house I'd shoot them and I'd kill them, but it's a little different in the moment when you've got your kids watching. I just wanted him out of the house.'
Couch's bullet did not strike the suspect, who was then brought to the ground by police with tasers
But Couch said that within minutes, the suspect had been surrounded by police.
'In that moment I was terrified I'm going to be honest with you. I know I was shaking,' he added.
He praised the Butts County Sheriff's Office as the 'best in the world', as well as his son's quick-thinking.
'I was so proud of him, he was probably the calmest one there,' Couch said. 'He knew to come in and wake me, all he said was 'someone has busted my window' and then he went and made sure the front door was locked and tried to wake up his older brother.'
But he revealed the ordeal has taken its toll on the family, who are currently too scared to spend the night in their own home.
'It's been rough,' he explained. My daughter's thing was that she was always scared to sleep in her room in case someone came in and now somebody did and now I don't think my daughter will ever sleep in her room again.
'I mean I don't really want to go into my own home right now and I'm 38 years-of-age.'
The incident has stunned the sleepy community where it unfolded.
The heroic dad, pictured with wife Allison, said he was 'terrified' in the moment but just wanted to protect his kids
The terrifying ordeal took place at Couch's home in Jackson, Georgia
Couch explained that his cars were unlocked on the driveway and his older son's window was open at the time of the attack.
'I moved out of Atlanta to get away from all that,' he said. 'Nothing was taken from us, this happened at 11.30pm at night, this person was just trying to hurt my family.'
But he is just grateful things did not end in more tragedy.
'The sheriff's response was phenomenal, but for him to say that in all his 28 years without doing what I did it he would have been dealing with a homicide.
'He told me the guy is going to jail for a very long time.'
Aquil is charged with burglary, home invasion, terroristic threats, three counts of cruelty to children in the 1st degree, criminal damage to property in the 2nd degree, and obstruction of law enforcement, Atlanta News Firstreports.
Butts County Sheriff Gary Long told the outlet Aquil was previously given probation for busting into another homeowner's residence.
