Errol Musk, the 79-year-old father of Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, recalled in an interview this week how he shot and killed three men in 1998. He also said that if he hadn’t they would have performed a ritualistic murder on his then six-year-old daughter, Ali, and then eaten her.

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Musk told the Anything Goes with James English podcast that armed intruders came after him and his daughter while they were at one of his properties in Sandton, Johannesburg in South Africa. He said he was visiting the property to inspect some painting work being done on a rental property when “about seven or eight men” somehow gained entrance to the property despite there being an electric fence around it.

Errol Musk recalled that he was preparing a bath for his daughter when he hears sounds coming from the lounge of the house. When he went to investigate, he came upon the men, including one well-dressed man wearing a jacket and tie.

“He brought up his left arm, I presumed he wanted to shake hands, he had a black jacket on and I saw his hand come up, but then I saw the sparks come from his hands and he fired a weapon at me with his left hand more or less from the hip,” Musk said. “I probably ducked or dived or did something. For 20 years I did karate so I have reactions and I can react quite quickly. Anyway, I must have reacted, and the bullet went past me into a glass door which came crashing down.”

At that point, Errol Musk said he ran to the bathroom to fetch his .357 Magnum revolver.

“I took out the guy with the tie, the one who shot me to the head. And that bullet went into the chap behind him as well,” Errol recalled, adding that he took out a third intruder with a shot to the hip. He would later die from the bullet wound.

Elon Musk’s dad also said that a total of 52 shots were fired at him by the men, and none hit him, yet he managed to take out three of them with just two shots. He did, however, suffer hearing loss in one ear due to the gunfire.

After the gunfight, he said he and his daughter left the house through a broken window and were able to flag down some help on the street. They then went into hiding. He was eventually charged with manslaughter, but was acquitted on the grounds of self-defense.

“I wasn’t proud of it, but what could I do? It was me or them. My daughter’s head would be hanging from a taxi at this moment, dangling from a taxi if I let them get their way. My 6-year-old daughter’s head would be dangling from a taxi mirror,” he said. “Because they eat them and they use the children as medicine.”