SAN DIEGO (KSWB) — Police say a man managed to disarm a robber at his San Diego home Tuesday, then shot the intruder to death when the would-be thief charged him.
The deadly shooting happened in the Mount Hope neighborhood around 9 p.m., according to the San Diego Police Department. A 911 caller told dispatchers that someone had tried to rob him but that he shot the intruder.
When officers arrived, they found a man with several gunshot wounds lying inside the home. Police and then paramedics tried to save his life at the house and eventually took him to the hospital, but he was pronounced dead from his wounds shortly after arriving.
Investigators say they’re still working through the details of the home invasion and shooting, but they believe it all started when the resident returned to his home near 43rd and J streets Tuesday night and found two men waiting inside for him.
One of them held the man at gunpoint and demanded belongings from the house, according to police. As the robbers searched for valuables, “The resident was able to disarm the subject with the gun,” an SDPD news release explained, though it didn’t provide further details on how the man wrested the weapon away.
He then turned the gun on the robber, investigators say, and the intruder “reportedly charged the resident, prompting him to fire the gun several times, striking him.” The second man ran off as the resident called 911.
Officers say the resident, 62, “has been cooperative and is not considered a suspect at this time.” The man he killed was 39 years old, SDPD said. Neither was publicly identified.
The other intruder had not been identified or arrested as of late Wednesday morning. He was said to be in his 30s, though a detailed description was not released.
