An Oceanside resident fatally shot a 22-year-old intruder Monday night after the man allegedly broke into his home and threw a rock, hitting the homeowner in the face, police said.
The shooting was reported shortly after 7:20 p.m. at a home on Diamond Circle near Olive Drive.
Officers responding to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon found the man suffering from a gunshot wound inside the home, police spokesperson Heather Mitchell said.
Police said the intruder was carrying a 3-foot wooden stake and a rock when he entered an open slider door in a back bedroom. A woman was inside the room.
“The suspect threw a rock at a male resident of the home, striking him in the face,” Mitchell said in a statement. “The male resident retrieved a firearm and shot the suspect.”
The homeowner, a 54-year-old man, fired his Glock handgun three times, striking the intruder in the chest, she said.
Police and fire personnel tried to resuscitate the man, but he died before he could be taken to a hospital. The homeowner who fired the gun suffered injuries to his face and was treated at the scene, Mitchell said.
Police said they believe the same man had walked along the backyards of several homes in the area and may have tried to enter at least one of them. Someone used a rock to shatter a sliding glass window, but the residents were not home at the time so it isn’t known if it was the same man or if he entered the premises, Mitchell said.
Detectives are in the early stages of their investigation and have not yet determined if the shooting was self-defense, Mitchell said.
The name of the man who died was not immediately released.
Monday’s shooting is the second time in less than a year that a North County resident shot and killed an alleged intruder.
About 5 a.m. Nov. 16, a man called 911 to report a person in the back yard of his home on York Drive near Santa Fe Avenue in Vista. While still on the phone, the caller told dispatchers that the person had gotten into the home through a window.
Dispatchers then heard the resident fire a single gunshot. When deputies arrived on the scene, they found the burglar mortally wounded.
City News Service contributed to this report.
