Eighty-one-year-old Robert Jenkins said he loaded his wife's handgun and tried to scare off a burglar in his Tucker home, but he fired when the intruder rushed him, according to a family friend.

DeKalb police said the shooting was justified, and Jenkins will not be charged in the death of the suspect, a man possibly in his 20s who had not been identified Wednesday.

"He defended his home, defended his wife," police spokesman J.T. Ware said. "He did what everybody would hope to do in a situation like that."

Jenkins was being treated at a hospital Wednesday for a minor gunshot wound. His 78-year-old wife was unharmed.

The two were not available for comment, but longtime friend Jack Sartain said he spoke with Jenkins by phone and got this account:

About 11 p.m. Tuesday, Jenkins was roused from bed by noises in his red brick home on Zemory Drive near the I-285 interchange at Lawrenceville Highway. He got his wife's gun and confronted a man in the kitchen. The intruder lunged at him.

Police said the two men struggled before Jenkins fired.

Jenkins was shot in the hand but was complaining only of a headache Wednesday morning, Sartain said.

Police said they believe Jenkins was wounded when the gun he was handling discharged. It was not immediately known if the intruder was armed.

Jenkins would not have fired if he had any choice, his friend said.

"He's the sweetest guy anyone would ever know," Sartain said. He said Jenkins was one of the founders of the nearby Lawrenceville Road United Methodist Church.

Jenkins ran a gas station for many years until his retirement and still keeps busy with lawn maintenance jobs, mainly for neighbors and church members, Sartain said.

Neighbor Evelyn Chewning, who said Jenkins mows her lawn, said the neighborhood is usually quiet and has not suffered recent break-ins.