The present came in handy Monday night when he was attacked by an armed carjacker who left Strudel's eyes soaked in blood after pistol-whipping him in the forehead.
Strudel, deputy police chief at the University of North Florida, shot the armed 15-year-old in the buttocks during the attempt to steal Strudel's sport-utility vehicle, the Sheriff's Office said. The attack occurred about 9 p.m. in the 10600 block of Lem Turner Road while Strudel, who was off-duty and out running errands, had stopped at a free-standing ice machine to buy ice, police said.
Strudel needed numerous stitches to close his head wound, said UNF Police Chief Frank Mackesy, a long-time personal and professional friend who took Strudel to the hospital.
"He took a pretty significant blow to the head," Mackesy said of the 67-year-old. "He was definitely shaken up."
Mackesy credited Strudel's expertise as a firearms instructor with the Sheriff's Office and UNF police with helping to ensure his injuries weren't worse. Strudel joined the UNF police department in 2005 after 25 years with the Sheriff's Office.
"The suspect messed with the wrong guy," Mackesy said. "He was responding in a way he was trained to respond. If it had been anybody else out there, I don't know how this would have turned out."
Take away: Leave old men to themselves. They don't have many years left and relish the thought of exciting new story telling material for their kaffeeklatsch and 'spit & whittle club' get-togethers.
Bonus story: 84 year old Tulsa man sends attacker running.