Aurora Daughter Grabs a Swiffer, Then a Baseball Bat, to Run Off the Man Beating Her 63-Year-Old Father in His Own Garage

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

AURORA, CO — A 63-year-old Aurora man took repeated blows to the head from a man waiting inside his garage on a Sunday afternoon, and it was his wife and adult daughter who ended it. The daughter went at the attacker with a Swiffer first. When that was not enough, she picked up a baseball bat.

Tom Ruszkowski had been on his roof at his South Elkhart Way home fixing a swamp cooler, as reported by 9NEWS. He climbed down and walked into his garage. A man was already inside. He attacked Ruszkowski from behind and hit him in the head over and over.

Ruszkowski’s wife jumped in and fought the man. His grown daughter stepped in with whatever was within reach. A Swiffer first. Then a baseball bat. The man ran.

Ruszkowski was left with multiple head wounds that needed staples and stitches, a knocked-out tooth, and a shoulder injury.

There is no firearm in this story, so it is not a defensive gun use. I am covering it because the mindset is exactly right. Two women watched a family member being beaten and closed the distance instead of freezing. The daughter started with the first object in her hand, and when a cleaning tool did not stop the threat, she traded up to something that would. Escalating until the attack stops is the whole job. The tool matters far less than the willingness to pick it up and use it.

The other lesson is for the people who do carry. Ruszkowski was attacked from behind, with no warning, inside his own garage, on an ordinary afternoon of home repair. Whatever you keep for defense only counts if it is on you when a stranger is standing where you did not expect him.

Police arrested Kendan Lubovich, 33, outside a neighbor’s house shortly after he fled. He was being held without bail at the Arapahoe County jail as of Wednesday, pending formal charges.

Lubovich was already facing three other pending assault cases: one from 2024 in Weld County and two from 2025 in Boulder County. He posted a $10,000 bail in one of them and was released on personal recognizance bonds in the other two, meaning his signature was all it took to walk out. All three cases are on hold while the courts sort out whether he is mentally competent to stand trial.

“Bail bonds are not designed to keep people in jail. They’re designed to let people be out on bond while a case is pending because you are still presumed innocent, even if charged,” 9NEWS legal analyst Scott Robinson said.

More from USA Carry:

• Valdosta Shopper Draws on Man Beating Girlfriend and Her Teen Daughter in Dollar General, Fires Once When Attacker Charges Him
• Georgia Man Fires Warning Shot, Then Shoots Brother in the Leg to Stop Attack on Him, Their Mother and His 4-Year-Old Daughter
• Good Guy With a Gun: Sacramento Deputy Shoots and Kills Knife Attacker Who Was Actively Stabbing 26-Year-Old Daughter After She Pulled Him Off Her Mother
• Bend Father With a Concealed Carry Permit Followed a 16-Year-Old Shooter Into His Daughters’ Elementary School and Killed Him Before Police Arrived; Wyden Answers With Call for ‘Common Sense Gun Laws’
• Stabbed as He Tried to Walk Away, Jet Ski Rider Shoots 47-Year-Old Attacker on Ogeechee River Sandbar

That is an accurate statement of the law. The practical result is that a man with three open assault cases allegedly walked into a stranger’s garage and beat him until his family drove him out. The presumption of innocence protects the accused. It does nothing for the homeowner who meets him in the garage, which is why the burden of being ready falls on the family, not the system.

No formal charges had been filed as of Wednesday. Anything filed will be an allegation, and Lubovich is presumed innocent unless convicted.

Read the original story: Aurora Daughter Grabs a Swiffer, Then a Baseball Bat, to Run Off the Man Beating Her 63-Year-Old Father in His Own Garage