90-year-old survives intruder's attack with scissors by playing dead

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. (FOX 2) - A 90-year-old man survived an attack at his Rochester Hills condo from an intruder who said he wanted to see someone die before he killed himself by playing dead, police said Tuesday.

Police arrived to the condo on Huntington Park after a call from a concerned neighbor. 

"A neighbor noticed some blood on the doorknob of one of his neighbors, " said Lt. Stephen Jacobs of the Oakland County Sheriff's Office. "He then told us there was also a broken window out back." 

Officers followed a trail of blood leading into the home, where they found a man dead in the doorway of one the rooms. They also discovered the homeowner -- a 90-year-old man who had been badly beaten.

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"There was quite a bit of blood, it definitely looked like a struggle. Things were turned over, lamps were on the floor," Jacobs said.

The victim says he heard glass breaking in the middle of the night. He went to see what was going on and came face to face with an unknown man on the stairs armed with scissors.  Police say that man was on a mission.

"He made a comment that he wanted to see somebody die before he took his own life," Jacobs said.

After battling with the man who was beating him with furniture, the 90-year-old man seemingly gave his attacker what he wanted. He pretended to be dead. It worked and the assault stopped.

A short time later, the attacker, a 44-year-old man, collapsed and died from the injuries he received from breaking into the victim's window. Police say the suspect lived in the same complex but the victim didn't know him.

The 90-year-old homeowner was taken to the hospital with head injuries, a broken orbital bone and cuts throughout his body, but he is alive.

"He had the will to live and wasn't going to let anybody take his life from him," Jacobs said.