EAST BRADY, Clarion County — A 26-year-old man committed suicide a short time after breaking into the home of his ex-girlfriend, assaulting her father and shooting her mother early Sunday morning, authorities said.

Bryan David Collar, who was a Karns City High School graduate, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the driveway of his mother’s home in East Brady about 2:40 a.m., shortly after he forced his way into the Second Avenue home where his former girlfriend Kelsey Craig lives with her parents.

But the outcome could have been much worse, state police admitted, if not for the heroic actions of Kelsey’s father, who is credited with risking his life to save his family.

Craig’s brother, 25-year-old Kody Craig, said Kelsey Craig had dated Collar for about six years, but only in the past half-dozen months had the relationship gotten tumultuous.

About a week ago, after Collar became physically violent, Kelsey Craig got a protection from abuse order.

That, the woman’s family members said, caused Collar to become even more agitated, telling people in the community he would kill the entire family or burn down the home, and he “cased” the home by driving by repeatedly throughout the night.

“That really upset him because he couldn’t see her,” Kody Craig said of the PFA.

The family said Collar late Saturday night was unsuccessfully trying to call Kelsey by using a blocked telephone number and driving by in his pickup truck past their home about every 15 minutes.

Eventually the suspect pulled into a back alleyway and threw a brick through the home’s back door.

The noise woke the family’s 59-year-old mother, Dana Craig, who was sleeping on the couch. Hearing the commotion, the mother ran toward her daughter’s bedroom, which is on the same floor.

As she was running, Collar reportedly fired a rifle. A hunter, Collar missed.

But the blast hit a piece of metal in the wall causing the bullet to fracture. Dana Craig was struck by shards in her thighs, stomach and groin.

The screaming awakened Dana Craig’s husband, 61-year-old Dick Craig, who sidestepped his wife to confront the intruder.

“I didn’t have a choice in the matter. I just did what I had to do,” Dick Craig said. “It was a split-second decision.”

Collar reportedly fired a second shot, again missing.

But as Collar took a second — perhaps to reload his weapon — Dick Craig tussled with him.

Craig, who by that point had his shoulder broken in four places and several broken ribs, hit the intruder with a lamp.

As Craig went for a rifle from his own gun cabinet, Collar fled to his mother’s house on East First Street, where he lived, just four or five blocks away, authorities said.

Cpl. Eric Simko praised Craig for showing courage under fire.

“He saved his family from being killed,” Simko said. “What more can you say?”

Police said soon after returning to his home, Collar fatally shot himself in the driveway with a 16-gauge shotgun.

Clarion County Coroner Terry Shaffer pronounced Collar dead at the scene at 7:02 a.m. He died of a gunshot wound to his head. There was no autopsy.

Dana Craig remains in the trauma unit at UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh.

“You don’t ever take threats lightly,” Kody Craig said. “I never thought he (Collar) could shoot someone.”