× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

No, James Jackson said to himself, that was not thunder and lightning from overnight storms that he and his family heard crashing into their Omaha home early Tuesday.

So, the 73-year-old Air Force veteran of the Vietnam War said, he grabbed his registered 380 Taurus semiautomatic handgun and left his second-floor bedroom for the main-floor living room.

And halfway down the stairs he spotted a man entering his home through a broken front picture window. Peering about 15 feet from the steps into the living room lighted only by a small table lamp, Jackson said he fired one round that grazed the torso of the man.

After he fired, Jackson said, “I told him he better leave.’’

The man stepped back outside through the window and waited on the porch for police to arrive. Jackson said the man was bleeding from the gunshot wound and cuts from the broken glass.

“I’m glad I didn’t kill the guy,’’ Jackson said about the break-in that occurred about 1:45 a.m. at his home near 34th and Cuming Streets. “But I did shoot to stop him.’’

The 29-year-old man was taken to Creighton University Medical Center in critical condition. Later Tuesday, he was upgraded to fair condition.