Man Who Fatally Shot Intruder Cited Fear

An Anaheim man who opened fire on home invaders Thursday night, killing one, had worried for his family’s safety since armed men had appeared at his door last weekend, neighbors said.

The man was home with his wife and two children at 7:30 p.m. Thursday when at least three armed men barged into the apartment, police said.

“From what we know,” Police Lt. Steve Walker said, “the [victim] is in the bedroom where he hears this loud boom noise of the door getting kicked in. He arms himself in the bedroom and stands up, but finds a suspect standing in the bedroom doorway with a gun.

“He shoots at this man, who falls. He confronts another suspect in the hallway. That guy runs away to another part of the house.”

When the victim confronted the second invader, the two exchanged gunfire, and the invader may have been wounded, Walker said.

The dead man was identified as Victor Espinoza, 50, whose hometown was unknown. The other men then escaped.

The family had told neighbors they had been shaken since an incident last weekend, a neighbor said Friday.

Rosa Gutierrez, who lives across from the family in the 3000 block of Coolidge Avenue, said two well-dressed men had appeared at the apartment about 11 p.m. Saturday.

“She told me that two men knocked on her door and said, ‘We’re from the police!’ ” Gutierrez said. “They wanted to get inside, but her husband didn’t trust their story. When he said he was going to call police to check them out, the men left.”

The family, she said, was “frightened by the incident. After that happened, any time the man left the house he warned his wife to lock all the doors and windows.”

Police are investigating the Saturday incident but have no reason yet to connect the two, Walker said.

“The motive that we have right now is a home-invasion robbery,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll get more answers as the investigation continues.”

Police declined to disclose the family’s name.

Some witnesses to Friday night’s attack said they saw one of the men running with blood on his pant leg. Blood also was found where the getaway vehicle was parked, Walker said.

A neighbor who happened to be videotaping an evening thunderstorm captured the sound of gunshots. In the tape, two men are seen dragging a third, who appears wounded, into a white van. Police confiscated the tape as evidence.

No arrests have been made. But police warned local hospitals to be on the lookout for anyone seeking treatment for a gunshot wound.

Several residents in the neighborhood said they had heard the gunshots Thursday night.

“Almost immediately after, I see this guy running around a corner carrying a baby in his arms,” said a neighbor who spoke on condition of anonymity. “He was the guy who lived there and he’s yelling, ‘It’s a fight! There’s a fight. Call the police!’ ”