Neighborhood Watch Leader Arrested After Intruder Is Shot

A 41-year-old off-duty security guard, who police said shot and wounded a man he found in the yard of his Glendale home late Tuesday night, was being held without bail Wednesday on a charge of attempted murder.

Police said the victim was found lying in the driveway of the home of Donald John Hoover Jr., who serves as a block captain in the Neighborhood Watch citizens group.

Listed in fair condition Wednesday with a gunshot wound in the chest was Gustavo Adolpho Barrera, 24, of Los Angeles, said a spokesman for Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, where he underwent surgery.

In an interview Wednesday, Hoover’s wife, Christine, said she and their 6-year-old daughter were asleep when her husband returned to their Acacia Avenue home from work shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday. She said her husband rushed into the house, yelling that there was an intruder in the yard and telling her to call police. Then he grabbed a gun he kept in the house, she said.

Struggle Ensues

Christine Hoover said that, as she talked on the phone with police, she saw her husband, who was wearing his security firm’s uniform, order a man at the rear of the house to lie on the ground and put his hands behind his back. She said her husband tried to put handcuffs on the man, but a struggle ensued in which Hoover’s gun went off.

“He had tears in his eyes and he said, ‘I didn’t mean to do it,’ ” Christine Hoover said, describing her husband after the shooting. “He has never hurt anyone before in his life.”

Police said they heard the gunshot as they talked with Christine Hoover on the phone. She told them the intruder had been shot and asked that paramedics be sent.

Police Sgt. Steve Campbell said Hoover’s gun was confiscated. He said he did not know whether Barrera was armed.

No charges had been filed Wednesday against Barrera.