A Pelham homeowner used an unloaded shotgun to keep an alleged burglar away from his house and was able to detain him until police arrived.

Michael Pacheco said he saw the alleged burglar, Joseph Guillemette, 18, trying to break into his son’s car at his 89 Sherburne Road residence.

When he confronted Guillemette at around 9:30 a.m., Wednesday, Dec. 20, the alleged burglar was on his way to his shed, Pacheco said.

Guillemette had driven down Pacheco’s secluded driveway and backed up his vehicle to the shed, according to police.

After Pacheco confronted Guillemette and did not believe his excuse for being on his property, he took Guillemette’s car keys and returned to his house to notify police.

Pacheco said that when Guillemette began banging on his door and demanding his keys back, he feared for the safety of himself and his family and grabbed his shotgun. His 3-year-old child was home at the time.

“I did what I thought was right,” he said.

With the unloaded gun in his hands, Pacheco was able to keep Guillemette away from his house and to hold him until officers arrived.

“My heart pounded like it never pounded,” he recalled. Guillemette, a Pelham resident, has been charged with burglary and was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail at the county jail.