BEL AIR, Md. — A Bel Air businessman who tackled an armed suspect during a home invasion is getting a Carnegie Medal for Heroism.
Michael Clark is getting the medal after the April 10 attack at a house on Highland Road, in the Bel Air Acres community off of Baltimore Pike.
Clark's fiancee, Erica Paff, was grazed by a bullet during the home invasion, according to a press release from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission.
The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission sent the following story:
Before dawn on April 10, 2024, 44-year-old Erica E. Paff entered the dimly lit, enclosed breezeway of her Bel Air, Maryland, home where she encountered a 31-year-old man wearing a ski mask and holding a .32 caliber revolver. He aimed the gun at Paff and ordered her to turn around, holding the gun about an inch from the back of her head. Paff’s fiancé, 54-year-old business owner Michael Clark had just exited the shower at the house's opposite end when he heard Paff scream in the breezeway. He wrapped a towel around himself and moved toward the sound. At a point about 5 feet from the door to the breezeway, Clark saw Paff and the assailant through the door's window. He swung open the door and lunged at the assailant, reaching for the gun. Clark dipped his shoulder before he tackled the assailant and the two tumbled through an exterior door onto the patio in the backyard. As the assailant scrambled to his feet and began to flee, he turned and fired a single shot in the direction of Paff and Clark. The bullet grazed Paff. The assailant then fled the scene. Clark helped Paff back inside before he ran to his bedroom and retrieved his own pistol. He exited the house and searched for the assailant for several minutes before returning inside. Law enforcement used a drone to locate the assailant nearby 15 minutes after he had fled. Paff recovered. Clark was unharmed during the incident.
The suspect, Joshua Brewster of Cecil County, was apprehended shortly after, trying to hide at the Harford Senior Housing complex, reported the Sheriff's Office.
He was also suspected of a burglary earlier that night on Hanna Road, in the West Gate development off of Tollgate Road.
Clark is one of 18 people to get the Carnegie Medal this year.
The recipients get a financial grant. The Carnegie Medal has been given throughout the U.S. and Canada since 1904.
