Don’t mess with Lorenza Marrujo under any circumstances.

A burglar attempted to break into her Fontana, California apartment in a senior housing complex in September of 2020 – and he learned that lesson the hard way.

The 67-year-old woman may be under 5 feet tall, but she’s a force to be reckoned with!

The man broke into her house, but she refused to let him in.

“As he was coming towards me, I said back off – right away,” Marrujo told the local CBS Los Angeles.

And he did. Unfortunately, that was not the end of his criminal career.

Instead, he simply relocated to another apartment in the same building.

The suspect then entered Marrujo’s friend, 87-year-old Elizabeth McCray’s apartment.

“He grabbed me and shook me, and I went down on the floor,” McCray recalled.

Marrujo heard her scream and knew she had to hand out a butt-kicking.

So she went over to McCray’s apartment with a baseball bat, but first, she dialed 911.

It’s important to note that, while Marrujo’s scrappiness makes for a great story… Getting involved in a violent incident is never a good idea, and calling 911 is what police generally recommend.

But Marrujo wasn’t about to wait, and McCray was taken aback when she walked in.

“I didn’t expect that little lady would be that brave. I was trembling. I grabbed her by the leg. I said, ‘Be careful. You’re gonna kill us.’ She said, ‘Not tonight,’” McCray said.

Marrujo then gave the intruder a whooping.

“I squeezed myself between her and him. I put Mama on the side, and I jumped on him. I was punching him and everything, and I had the cane against his throat,” Marrujo explained.

She’s been practicing martial arts for 26 years.

And that belt is a black belt in Jujitsu.

The man fought back, but she was unfazed. She switched positions to restrain him in a way she claimed she knew wouldn’t kill him!

But not before she pushed back his fingers, elbowed him twice in the sternum, and yelled at him.

“He lifted up and tried to twist my hand. At the same time, I twisted his and turned it around real fast. He was saying, ‘You’re hurting me.’ And I said, ‘I don’t care. I don’t care what happens to you. You had no right to hurt an elderly person,’” Marrujo recalled.

When police arrived, they were able to apprehend the intruder.

He’s Donald Robert Prestwood, 59 years of age. He’s been charged with elder abuse, which is a felony.

McCray was taken to the hospital but was released the following day.

Marrujo appears to have returned home after speaking with the police.

While they seemed to admire her gutso, they also reminded citizens that not everyone is as… well, badass.

The police spokesperson Jennie Venzor said,

“We recommend that you dial 911 for emergency assistance, which, in this case, she did that and also jumped in.”

“What she told me is that her training kicked in, and it was like a muscle memory. She knew she had to help her friend out.”

The Tiger’s Eye

The 4’11” 100-pound woman plans to brush up on her martial arts skills.

“I’m getting rusty in places,” she admitted.

According to the SB Sun, she studied criminal justice and martial arts in the hopes of becoming a crime scene investigator. But life had other plans for her, and she ultimately ended up homeless.

Jujitsu would be useful in a completely different way.

She also told the paper that she used to train to the song “Eye of the Tiger” when she was younger.

There was no word on whether the song was playing in her head as she placed a knee on Prestwood’s chest. There was another on his neck and she had scrunched his mouth with her hand until police arrived.

“I needed it in case I had a close encounter of the bad kind,” Marrujo said of her abilities.

“I prefer to be called Lady Ninja.”

Noted!

Click the video below to hear Lady Ninja tell the entire story.

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Sources: YouTube – CBS Los Angeles, WKTR News, SB Sun