Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : AT THE SCENE : Orange Man Shoots Burglary Suspect

The string of murders by the so-called Night Stalker last year prompted Kevin Ralph Gull of Orange to keep a loaded .22-caliber handgun in his home. This week, Gull used the weapon for the first time.

He shot a 16-year-old who allegedly was trying to break into his home.

The computer programmer said he heard persistent ringing at his front door shortly before 12:30 p.m. but “took his time” to answer. As he walked downstairs, Gull said, he spotted a young man removing the screen from the dining room window. Gull sneaked back upstairs, grabbed his gun and came down--surprising the youth at the foot of the stairs, near a television set and video tape recorder.

“I told him to hold it right there and I pointed my gun at him,” Gull said. “He said ‘OK’. . . . He seemed fairly cooperative and asked me not to shoot him, to let him go. I said ‘I’m very nervous so just hold it right there and don’t move.’ ”

But the teen-ager, who had gotten face down onto the floor as ordered, bolted as Gull gave emergency 911 personnel his address. Gull fired three shots. He didn’t mean to hit the intruder, Gull said. And he didn’t think he had.

The youth, police said, drove home in his 1964 Volkswagen. He had been shot in the side, hip and leg. His father drove him to Western Medical Center, where officials notified the police of a shooting victim. He was arrested on suspicion of burglary. On Saturday, he was listed in stable condition, according to police.