Moshe Borukh heard glass breaking downstairs in his Jamaica Estates home in Queens, N.Y., around 2:40 a.m. Borukh, who is a partner at Levy Borukh Law, grabbed his pistol and investigated. He soon discovered that a man was inside his home.
Borukh “locked eyes” with the man who’d broken into his kitchen. Even though Borukh had been shouting, “I have a gun,” the man didn’t leave.
In this video interview, Borukh explains that he lives in an affluent area in Queens. “It’s a relatively expensive area, and so a lot of these criminals come here because they know people don’t have guns,” he said.
He explained that after hearing glass breaking, he reached for his gun safe. “I always have my safe … with my gun inside next to my bed. And so, I automatically put my fingerprint on it. It opened up. I took my 9 mm Glock, and I went downstairs.
“As I’m coming through the hall to get downstairs, I actually hear somebody coming inside the kitchen area in the back.”
Borukh’s children, a13-year-old, an 11-year-old, and a 4-year-old, along with his wife, were in the house. “I was outraged that somebody had the balls to come into my home. … It felt surreal at the time. I felt like I had an obligation to keep my head on my shoulders and do what I needed to do to protect my family.”
Borukh soon found himself confronting a man in his dark kitchen. And this man had several things in his hands. In the mostly dark room, Borukh thought this intruder had a gun, so he pulled the trigger. The chamber was empty.
In a tense moment, as Borukh pulled back the pistol’s slide to chamber a round, the intruder decided to run. The masked man went back out the broken window and kept running. Two men who’d been waiting outside also ran.
But the drama of the situation wasn’t over. What happened when the police arrived 20 minutes later, according to Borukh, is disturbing. The best way to hear this part of the story in his own words on this video.
As you’ll hear, Borukh is an attorney. He has been helping other members of his community also get permits for firearms. Borukh thanked the NRA for all its work and particularly noted that the NRA-backed Bruen decision has made it possible for law-abiding New York City residents to obtain the means to defend themselves.
