MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — A suspect whose finger was cut off with a sword by a home-invasion victim who fought back in 2006 was finally captured and charged this week.

It was the fingerprints on the cut-off digit he left behind that fingered him as the suspect.

Terence Stewart, 45, is in the Shelby County Jail, charged with four counts each of aggravated robbery and attempted aggravated robbery, plus a burglary charge.

According to records, eight men were asleep inside a house in Fox Meadows on the night of Nov. 4, 2006, when two men armed with handguns kicked in the door, fired shots and demanded money from the men.

Cash and wallets were taken from four of the men. One of the victims was pistol-whipped and dragged, unconscious, into a front room.

But the suspects may have brought guns to a sword fight.

Police say the unconscious victim regained consciousness, armed himself with a “long, saber-type sword,” and fought back, cutting off one of the suspects’ fingers.

The two suspects ran out of the house, firing shots as they left.

Police collected the finger, inked it and identified Stewart as the owner through a database of people arrested in Shelby County.

While the identification was made just two days after the crime, and a warrant issued a few days later, it took almost 17 years for Stewart to be taken into custody. It’s not clear why. He is set for a court hearing Monday.

The second suspect mentioned in the reports is not named. Records show Stewart pleaded guilty to selling crack in 2005 and was sentenced to four months in that case. He also was sentenced on an aggravated robbery charge in 1996.