At merely 5 feet tall 67-year-old Lorenza Marrujo seemed to be the perfect target for a thief who planned to rob an apartment building for senior citizens.

But the criminal did not expect he would be no match for Lorenza, who has been a martial artist for more than 20 years of her life.

And when she caught the robber breaking into her California apartment, she confronted him without hesitation.

“As he was coming toward me, I said back off,” she told LA-based KCAL-TV.

Using her 26 years of martial arts training, 67-year-old Lorenza Marrujo took down an intruder who attacked her 81-year-old friend and neighbor. https://t.co/sBbS5JkueK

— WDBJ7 (@WDBJ7) October 1, 2020

The man just took a quick look at her and exited the apartment, but shortly after, Lorenza heard screams from another apartment. The criminal had set his sights on the home of her 81-year-old friend and neighbor Elizabeth McCray.

He shook her until she dropped to the ground, but Lorenza refused to let him hurt her friend further and called the cops before going in to help Elizabeth.

And as it turned out, Lorenza was a black belt martial artist with 26 years of practice behind her back.

Lorenza Marrujo might be small — standing less than 5 feet tall — but on Monday night, the 67-year-old proved she can pack a punch when she took down an intruder who broke into her Fontana apartment building https://t.co/VoGNZWy5x5

— KCAL News (@kcalnews) September 30, 2020

Lorenza’s friend warned her to act with caution.

She said:

“He’s gonna kill us!”

Lorenza replied saying:

“Not tonight.”

Lorenza said:

“I squeezed myself between her (Elizabeth) and him…then I jumped on him and I was punching him and I had the cane against his throat.

“At the same time his arm came up and I twisted it around, he was shouting ‘you’re hurting me, you’re hurting me.’ and I said ‘I don’t care what happens to you, you have no right to hurt an elderly person.‘”

Thankfully, Lorenza managed to pin the man to the ground until the cops arrived. 

Elizabeth was brought to the hospital and was able to go home the next day. The criminal was taken by the police.

Authorities advised people not to imitate what Lorenza did with the intruder, but God knows what would have happened to Elizabeth if her dear friend hadn’t had stepped in to help her.

See CBS Los Angeles’ report on the story by clicking below.