NATCHEZ — In the course of an afternoon, Rebecca Blalock went from housewife to shotgun-wielding neighborhood hero.

Blalock was home with her children Tuesday at noon when she saw three questionable men in the street near the corner of her home on Orange and Main streets.

“They weren’t really doing anything, they were just walking around looking 1,000 percent suspicious,” she said.

Blalock said since her house and several of her neighbor’s houses have been burglarized in the past, she paid close attention to the trio in the street.

“One of them was walking around and I think he was pretending to read the newspaper,” she said. “You could just tell they were up to no good.”

And it wasn’t long before Blalock’s suspicions were confirmed.

The three men alledgedly broke into the back door of her neighbor’s house — so Blalock got a shotgun.

“I was nervous,” she said. “And I said to myself, this is either going to go really good or really bad,” she said.

Blalock then called the Natchez Police Department and her neighbor, who was working at the time, and went outside to meet the alleged intruders.

Blalock met the men first in the gully where her yard converges with her neighbor’s yard, then followed the three out into the street.

With a loaded shotgun in her hands, Blalock kept two of three men from escaping until police arrived.

“They were right there,” she said motioning to the curb. “And I was here by the car and the cops got here right on time. It was perfect.”

“She definitely had them out-gunned,” Natchez Police Sgt. Craig Godbold said of the unarmed men. “But we don’t encourage citizens to do this type of thing. It’s extremely dangerous.”

Jake Hauer, 19, and Andrew Smith, 17, were arrested at the scene.

Antonio Smith, 18, was arrested later based on information provided by Hauer and Andrew Smith, Godbold said.

Godbold said while Antonio Smith allegedly fled the scene with a small television, laptop computer and a camera in a backpack, the other two men got substantially less.

On of the men was arrested with costume jewelry, while the other was allegedly apprehended with a bottle of wine and a can of Mountain Dew.

All three are being held without bond and are will be charged as adults with burglary of a dwelling.

Blalock said if the situation arose again, she would not do anything differently.

“I keep telling my neighbors they can’t afford for me to go to work,” she said.

Debra Reece, whose house was burglarized, said she’s glad to have Blalock for a neighbor.

“I certainly feel a lot better knowing she’s around,” Reece said. “She’s a good neighbor.”