Intruder allegedly puts gun in homeowner's face, demands money, orders him to room. Turns out victim's double-barrel is stored there — and 76-year-old fires it.

A 76-year-old homeowner told WKBW-TV he heard a knock at the door of his home in Genesee County, New York, shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday — and a man wearing a ski mask and apparently armed pushed him, forced his way inside, and demanded money.

"He had the gun in my face," the homeowner told WKBW.

The homeowner added to the station that the intruder asked him and his wife to move to the back mud room — and the homeowner went first, knowing he had a double-barrel shotgun in that very location.

'He went down'

"I hurried up and went down, he didn't follow me right away," the homeowner told WKBW. "I backed up against the wall, reached up, and got the shotgun. I put it behind me. He couldn't see it. He turned around, dropped his money, and he reached down — and I shot from the hip. He went down."

The homeowner told the station that his wife called 911.

Who is the alleged culprit?

Charles Cooper, 36, was airlifted to a hospital, the Genesee County Undersheriff told WKBW.

WHAM-TV said he was listed in guarded condition Wednesday afternoon, and that charges are pending against him — and that the couple wasn't injured.

Police told WKBW the homeowner's gun is legally owned.

Investigators said Cooper specifically targeted the home, WHAM added, and that there was no danger to the public.