Elderly couple fends off intruder in bloody attack in San Jose

SAN JOSE, California -- Santa Clara County Sheriff's officials say a suspected burglar picked the wrong senior couple to attack in San Jose.

Yousef and Christina Youkhaneh say they confronted a homeless woman who tried to attack Christina at their house house on Sunday night.

They say the intruder hit Christina, 76, in the head twice with a stick as she was putting on her shoes in the backyard. The suspect, 50-year-old Rehnu Singh, then ran off.

Youkhaneh heard his wife call for help and he jumped into action, going outside only to see his wife bleeding from the head. Christina told her husband to catch the suspect. Without hesitating, Yousef, who is 86 years old, chased down the suspect.

Youkhaneh says he struggled with the suspect beginning in the backyard and that it continued onto the driveway and then into the street.

"She hit me, she was like tiger, very strong. She [tried to] run away, but I didn't let her run away," explained Youkhaneh. He held her down in the middle of the street until deputies arrived. He says it was a 10-minute struggle.

Christina needed eight stitches to fix the cut to her head. She called her husband a "hero" for fighting and catching the suspect. The couple has been married for 52 years.

Singh, who is a transient on probation, according to Santa Clara Sheriff's Office, was arrested on assault with deadly weapon, elder abuse and attempted burglary.

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