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Charges Dropped Against NH Man Who Fired Gun To Stop Burglar

MANCHESTER, N.H. (CBS) – Charges have been dropped against a New Hampshire man who captured a man who robbed his home this past weekend.

It all started Saturday afternoon, when police were called to two homes on Ten Rod Road because someone had broken into them.

Officers found 61-year-old Dennis Fleming holding off the suspect with a handgun. Fleming's home was one of the two that were robbed.

Twenty-seven-year-old Joseph Hebert was arrested and charged with two counts of burglary. But it didn't end there.

Police later found out that Fleming had been looking for Hebert for about half-an-hour after the robbery.

When he caught up with him, Fleming fired a warning shot into the ground. No one was hurt, but that was enough for police to charge Fleming with reckless conduct for firing his gun in a residential area.

Fleming told WBZ-TV Monday he was wrong to take the law into his own hands.

Despite that, Fleming's story caught fire nationwide, and it was even picked up overseas by the London Daily Mail.

"I don't want to be a poster child for gun advocacy or anything like that," Fleming told WBZ-TV's New Hampshire Bureau Chief Lauren Leamancyzk on Wednesday. "It's not what I'm looking for."

Fleming may not want to be the poster child, but, gun advocates from all over the county rallied to his defense.

Fleming was facing four to seven years behind bars if convicted.

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