Intruder Terrorizes Couple, Then Kills Himself : Attack: The gunman robbed the couple, sexually assaulting the woman and wounding the husband as they struggled.

A shotgun-wielding burglar broke into a couple’s home on a quiet residential street, sexually assaulted a woman, shot her husband and then killed himself when he was cornered by police, authorities said Friday.

Officers declined to identify the dead man, who terrorized the couple around midnight Thursday before turning the gun on himself. The husband suffered a gunshot wound in the shoulder and was hospitalized at Mission Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, where he was listed in stable condition.

The woman was treated but not hospitalized, police said.

Police said the gunman broke into the house, robbed the couple and assaulted the woman. At some point during the ordeal, the intruder struggled with the husband and shot him.

Judy Perry, a neighbor, said she looked out her window and spotted two men running down the street, one carrying what appeared to be a shotgun.

“I just caught their silhouettes but one was obviously carrying a shotgun out to one side,” Perry said. “We saw all the neighbors coming out and we walked outside and we heard (the husband) screaming, “Help me! Help me!”

Mike Perry, her husband, who is an Anaheim paramedic, said he ran to a garage where the screams were coming from and administered first-aid to the wounded man.

“The bullet hit him from underneath and went through his shoulder,” said Mike Perry. “He was in a lot of pain.”

Police declined to comment on whether they were looking for a second suspect in the case.

San Clemente Police Lt. Paul Falk said dispatchers were alerted to the incident after several people called 911 to report gunshots in the neighborhood. After finding the wounded man and his wife, officers scoured the area, Falk said.

Minutes later, they saw a man walking down a nearby street about two blocks from where the assault occurred. When a police officer hailed the man, “the subject ran up a flight of stairs of a nearby home,” according to a police press release.

The man sat down on a lawn chair in front of the house and “turned the weapon on himself, inflicting a fatal gunshot wound to his head,” the statement said. Police declined to release any additional details pending the outcome of an investigation.

Randy Saint-John, who lives in the split-level home where the man shot himself, said he and his wife were awakened by a single gunshot.

After police surrounded the area, Saint-John said he saw the man “just sitting in the lawn chair with his legs spread and a shotgun laying between his legs. The front of his face was in terrible shape.”

“It’s terrifying to realize that he could have picked anyone on the street,” Saint-John said. “That’s a scary thought.”

San Clemente Police Capt. Alicia Powers said there was no apparent connection between this case and a serial rapist who has assaulted at least five women in the city over the past year.

“We don’t at this point in time have any reason to believe that there is a connection,” she said. “We are investigating this like we would any other rape case.”

Judy Perry said the incident has shocked the neighborhood. “We are going to be more cautious,” she said. “But, we also feel very sorry for the family (that was assaulted). We just want him to get better and come home.”