James Simmons was in his Clay Township bedroom Thursday night with his wife when he heard a commotion coming from one of his three son's bedrooms.

"I heard him yell, 'No, no,'" Simmons said, but he didn't hear the gunshots that ended 23-year-old Brett Simmons' life.

Simmons opened his bedroom door to investigate. The men, wearing hoodies and some sort of make-shift masks — perhaps T-shirts — were coming out of Brett's room and down the hall.

Simmons tried to grab one of them.

"I didn't have a chance to say, 'What the hell are you doing in my house?'" before a second man appeared behind the first, raised a gun and shot him in the chest, Simmons said.

Simmons, 44, spoke by phone Tuesday from a hospital where he's recovering.

No one has been arrested, but Simmons said he believes he's learned who police are searching for. He and Brett did not know them, he said.

"They did not know my son and my son did not know them," he said.

Simmons presumes the two young men somehow thought Brett had money. He declined to say why he thought that, but said the police know.

He also said police were doing a fantastic job. Some residents, however, were concerned the men were at large.

But Brett, Simmons said, was the target: The two invaders entered through the garage, passed one son's bedroom on the first floor and passed James and his wife's second-floor bedroom to get to Brett's room.

Northern Lancaster County Regional police Chief David Steffen declined to comment on Simmons' account.

Simmons and his wife, who had just come home from work, were awake when intruders entered their home. Simmons was eating chicken and cheese quesadilla at the time, he recalled.

As the shooter raised the gun, Simmons was able to turn away slightly, otherwise the bullet would have hit his heart, he said.

He fell into the hallway. He tried to grab the shooter's leg.

From about two feet away, the shooter pointed the gun at Simmons' head as he lay on the ground. Simmons turned his head.

"I saw the fire come out of the gun. The bullet hit the floor right by my head," he said.

Simmons' youngest son, 16, appeared and the shooter pointed the gun at him.

As the intruders ran downstairs, Simmons' other son, who sleeps on the first floor, hit one of the men in the head with a lamp. The gunman shot at him, but missed.

The intruders fled the house. They took nothing, Simmons said.

Brett had been shot twice in the back, Simmons said. His wife had gone to check on him and said he was dead.

James Simmons raised himself onto his knees. He and his youngest son held clasped hands to Simmons' chest wound to stanch the bleeding, while his wife held her hand to the exit wound.

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Simmons said his breathing grew shallow and he began to lose consciousness.

"I said, 'I'm sorry guys. I'm going. I'm leaving. I love you,'" he recalled.

He heard his wife and son plead no and to stay strong.

A calm, warm numbness enveloped him, Simmons said.

Somehow, he said, he willed his eyes to open.

His wife said she thought they lost him for about 30 seconds or so.

Simmons said he wanted to hang on. "I'm going to find these guys," he said.

Simmons said he's sure Brett fought the intruders.

"My son's a big strong guy. He put up a fight. My son could bench press 300 pounds," Simmons said.

Simmons also said he wanted to put to rest rumors that his son was involved in gangs or drugs or owed people money.

"I ask people not to speculate on anything. When everything's done and said, the truth will come out," said Simmons.

Brett had no enemies, he said.

Brett had attended Temple University for one year, but moved back home to be closer to his family.

"He loved his brothers, he loved us," Simmons said.

Simmons graduated from Harrisburg Area Community College and was working at the Cork & Cap Restaurant in Lancaster.

He wanted to be teacher or work in physical therapy, his father said, adding Brett was a great tennis and soccer player.

Brett loved to travel and had been to Hawaii and Las Vegas and had planned a trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras.

"He liked to party and stuff with his friends — he was 23," Simmons said. "He loved the Flyers. He loved the Tennessee Titans — I don't know why.

"He was an all-around good dude. I'm not just saying that as a father," he said.

Funeral plans are incomplete, Simmons said.

Simmons said he's not sure how long he'll be in the hospital. He had a collapsed lung and has some broken ribs, but said he didn't need surgery because the bullet went through him.

Brett "should be here and not me," Simmons said. "I just want to see these guys brought to justice so bad. I do, so bad."