CENTRALVILLE, Mass., Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Police in Massachusetts said a man who demanded money from an elderly woman for shoveling her driveway decided to leave when she retrieved her gun.

Investigators said the 79-year-old Centralville woman called police Tuesday night and reported a man had shoveled the driveway at the home she shares with her 81-year-old husband without first contacting the couple, the Lowell (Mass.) Sun reported Wednesday.


The woman told police she told the man to leave and closed the door, but the man knocked again, more forcefully.

"She feared he was going to break in so she opened the door again with the firearm at her side," Meehan said. "She never pointed it, but she said 'get off my property. I'm going to call the police,'" police Capt. Thomas Meehan said.

"He decided to leave," Meehan said.

Meehan said police found the man elsewhere in the neighborhood and allowed him to leave after a conversation. He said officers also spoke to the residents of the home and determined the woman had a license to carry the firearm and did not break any laws.