A group of trespassers attacked an elderly California homeowner Wednesday night after they broke into his Moreno Valley house. The homeowner shot and badly injured at least one of the intruders.
In a report by KNBC, Joe Teague, 93, claimed that soon after midnight, a group of “women and men kicked the door in” while he was inside his house. According to Teague, the other invaders “started throwing stuff that [were] in the home at me” after the “large guy” attacked him.
“The fact is, when they broke in they got a lot of my equipment and I approached them to put them under citizens arrest,” he said.
Teague claimed he let the home invaders know he had a firearm on him.
“I kept telling them, I have a shotgun with three shells in it, but I actually only had one. And they kept throwing stuff at me,” Teague said.
Teague fired one shot from his shotgun, hitting one of the invaders.
The Central Homicide Unit opened an investigation; the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office said who reported that one trespasser was in critical condition following the attack.
Teague’s grandson-in-law, Oscar Malma, told the publication that several break-in attempts have recently been made on Teague’s house. Teague hasn’t been home too frequently because he’s been living with his daughter since his wife passed away earlier this year.
“Recently he’s been having break-ins. It happened once on Friday; on [a] bright day they went to break in the house. And now this happened in the middle of the night? … They were looking for him. They’ve been watching him. They’ve been watching the house for a while,” Malma said.
Malma said Teague was frustrated with the break-ins and the slow police response.
“He was tired because every time he calls the police, [they take] forever to come and assist him, He took the law into his own hands.”
“[Teague is] an old retired plumber, and he has a lot of tools. … He was a musician as well, so he’s got a lot of … instruments. And little by little they’ve been ripping him off.”
Malma said he doesn’t blame Teague for defending his property.
“He’s been working all his life, he’s 93 years old … and whatever little things he has, he needs to protect them,” Malma said.
It is unclear if police have made any arrests in connection with the incident, but Malma asserted his grandfather-in-law did nothing wrong.
“He was defending his property. That happened inside his house. So I don’t think there’s any reason for him to be arrested,” Malma added.
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Sources: Westernjournal, Fox13memphis, Nbclosangeles