WRAL reports this dad was patient enough about a midnight burglary, but the bad guy made a mistake — he shot first.

The intruders held two adults and four children, ages 4, 5 and 8, at gunpoint and ransacked the house, authorities said.

During the robbery, one of the suspects fired a shot, prompting the man who lives in the house to grab a gun and shoot back, authorities said.

Antione Logan Chestnut, 19, of 109 Evelyn Circle in Dudley, was pronounced dead at the scene of multiple gunshot wounds.

The other two intruders fled …

As my Western Civ teacher in high school used to say, “Beware the wrath of a gentle man.”