Woman Exchanges Shots With Intruders in Home, Kills One

A 46-year-old woman fought a gun battle with two armed burglars in her home in the Hollywood Hills, killing one of the men and driving off the other, the Los Angeles Police Department reported Sunday.

The woman, whom police would not identify, exchanged shots with the two intruders Saturday night in her home above the Sunset Strip, just east of Beverly Hills, police said.

One of the burglars, a 25-year-old Los Angeles man, was wounded and died at the scene, said Detective Russell Kuster. An accomplice fled, apparently unhurt. The dead man’s name was withheld until police notify his family.

Kuster said no charges were expected to be filed against the woman. She was not injured, although she had “a close call” when bullets fired by the intruders narrowly missed her, Kuster said.

Police gave no other details of the incident. The break-in had no apparent connection with more than a dozen rapes and killings in the San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys being investigated as the work of a “walk-in killer,” a police spokeswoman said.