Man Shot During Struggle With Intruder

A homeowner who was shot twice Friday as he wrestled a gun from a would-be robber was in stable condition, authorities said.

After Chung Kim Le, 55, was shot, the gunman and an accomplice fled empty-handed, Fountain Valley Police Lt. Rod Gillman said.

Le was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he was in stable condition with gunshot wounds to the abdomen and leg.

The shooting occurred about 11 a.m. after two men walked through an open front door of Le’s home on the 11300 block of Warner Avenue and held Le and his wife at gunpoint, Gillman said. Only one of the men displayed a gun.

The man with the gun took Le to an upstairs bedroom, while the other man stayed downstairs with Le’s wife.

In the bedroom, Le attempted to wrest the .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun away from the gunman. “He was shot twice, but he managed to get the gun away from the suspect,” Gillman said.

Le tried to shoot the gunman, but the gun apparently jammed. The gunman then “ran downstairs, grabbed his partner and fled,” Gillman said.

Le’s wife, Ha Bich Nguyen Le, 35, was unharmed.

The men were described as being white, about 18 to 19 years old, Gillman said. The man with the gun was wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans.

Le and his wife moved to the United States from Vietnam 11 years ago and have lived in their Warner Avenue house for five years, said Bill Nguyen, who was at the hospital after learning that his brother-in-law had been shot.

Nguyen said the couple, who operate a nearby video store, had never seen the men before and didn’t know what they were attempting to steal.

Nguyen said that at the time of the attempted robbery, the Les were doing spring cleaning and had the doors to the house and garage open.

Ha Le was so upset by the incident that when the men left, she called family members for help, said Nguyen, who called police.

Times staff writer Shelby Grad contributed to this report.