Homeowners Shoot at Burglars in 3 Recent Break-Ins

Since last Saturday, three homeowners in various parts of the county have confronted burglars in their homes and opened fire on them, in some cases wounding them.

“It’s not an everyday occurrence,” said San Diego police spokesman Bill Robinson on Tuesday, explaining the rash of unrelated shootings.

It all started Saturday night when a Del Cerro man walked into his home and found an intruder. The homeowner grabbed his .38-caliber revolver, chased the man from the house and fired at him. Police are still unsure whether the burglar was hit.

Just two days later, a Vista man, also using a .38, wounded a man who reportedly entered his home in the morning. And, later that night, a La Jolla man apparently shot and wounded a burglar after the man awoke to find the burglar in his home.

Some police officials are not surprised that people are taking their defense into their own hands.

“We can’t respond everywhere that fast,” San Diego Police Sgt. Robert Peterson said. “I won’t condemn it, but I won’t condone it either.”

In the shooting at about 8:30 Monday morning, 27-year-old Vince Bartek of Vista and his girlfriend were roused from their sleep when they heard a knock at the door of their home in the 700 block of east Vista Way, followed by the sound of breaking glass.

Bartek, an electrician, went for his .38-caliber revolver when he heard the intruder in a nearby bedroom, said Sheriff’s Deputy Robbie Hill.

“I had no idea who it was. I didn’t hear a vehicle come up, and he wasn’t knocking very loud,” Bartek said.

When the intruder left the bedroom holding a 12-gauge shotgun in his hand, Bartek fired five times, hitting the man once in the neck, Hill said.

“I just fired,” Bartek said.

The man ran from the house and Bartek called 911. A short time later, deputies found a wounded man in a nearby apartment complex.

Francisco Arreola, 30, who is unemployed and lives in the 4100 block of Thomas Street in Oceanside, is under treatment for a neck wound at Palomar Medical Center in Escondido. He has been arrested on suspicion of attempted robbery and first-degree burglary.

Several hours later in La Jolla, Joseph Hippensteel was awakened at night when he heard someone in his home in the 8200 block of Caminito Maritimo. Police said Hippensteel, whose family was on vacation, saw a man in his bedroom, warned him to leave and then chased him through the house. The man started to escape through a window.

Hippensteel, who had grabbed his 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol, fired twice, said Peterson, the San Diego police sergeant. Police don’t know how many bullets hit the intruder, who fled in a waiting car, but a trail of blood was found outside, Peterson said.

No arrests have been made, said Robinson, the police spokesman. Police are awaiting lab results on some of the evidence.

In the other shooting, a Del Cerro man came home at about 7 p.m. Saturday and noticed a black bag on his kitchen floor and heard noises around the house.

Looking around, the homeowner saw a burglar in his family room. Grabbing his .38-caliber revolver, the man chased the intruder out of the house into the yard, where he fired four times, said Police Detective Mark Taylor.

Taylor said the man believes his shots hit the intruder. The man, who fears for his safety, did not want his name released because police have no suspects.

In California, people do not have to be licensed to keep a firearm in their home, and the law appears to be on the side of homeowner who defend themselves inside their homes, authorities say.

The law presumes that, if a person breaks into another’s home, the resident should have a reasonable fear of possible death or injury, said district attorney’s spokeswoman Linda Miller. But Miller was quick to warn that that does not mean every homeowner who shoots at an intruder is automatically safe from prosecution.