Boy Meets World‘s Mr. Feeny actor William Daniels thwarted a would-be-burglar Saturday, claiming during a recent interview that he “beat him up.”
The 91-year-old actor and his wife, Bonnie Bartlett, were at their San Fernando Valley home during the incident Saturday night, and although scary, Daniels reportedly reacted with bravery; at least that’s what he told Good Morning America when speaking with them about the incident.
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91-year-old “Boy Meets World” star William Daniels scares off intruder at his California home. @PaulaFaris reports. //t.co/dxQtksSar0 pic.twitter.com/fchdJqa1bx
— Good Morning America (@GMA) October 31, 2018
“I struggled with an intruder, took him to the ground, I beat him up and he ran away with bruises all over him,” Daniels joked to ABC News during a segment aired Wednesday morning. “Would you like to print that? You better not. It’s a total lie.”
“We were asleep, and I heard ‘bang, bang, bang,’” Daniels recalled the true events of Saturday night.
“It was very noisy,” Bartlett added.
“I lit the light, and Bonnie screamed, and this person fled,” Daniels continued.
“I think you scared him away,” Bartlett replied.
TMZ was the first to report the scary intrusion, with law enforcement officials telling the outlet that the couple had been in their home when the intruder allegedly attempted to kick in the back door at 9:20 p.m. When Daniels got up and turned on the light, the intruder reportedly fled.
“Someone tried to break in to the home of Mr. and Mrs. William Daniels on Saturday evening,” his rep initially confirmed to PEOPLE in a statement. “Luckily, Mr. Daniels was able to frighten away the person and the LAPD quickly responded. They are both well. Mr. Daniels thanks all his fans for their concern.”
The attempted burglary followed a string of recent burglaries in the Hollywood area, with thieves targeting a number of A-list celebrities, including Demi Lovato, This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman, John Mayer, Wiz Khalifa, and more. Four people have since been arrested in connection to a number of those burglaries, but it is not believed that the incident involving Daniels and Bartlett is connected to that scheme.
Commanding officer of Commercial Crimes Division, Lillian Carranza, claimed that thieves “flock like birds to areas where the rich and famous resided” due to the high priced items inside of the homes.
The suspect in Daniels’ case has not yet been identified and no arrests or charges have been made. Daniels and Bartlett are now reportedly planning to install a new alarm system to thwart any more attempted break-ins.