Suspect Shot in 3rd Break-In at Apartment

A man suspected of committing a home-invasion robbery over the weekend returned to rob the same Ventura apartment Monday afternoon and later that night, when he was shot by one of his victims, authorities said.

The robbery suspect, identified by hospital authorities as Anthony Coleman, was wounded in the shoulder and torso in the 8:20 p.m. shooting. He was listed in serious but stable condition at Ventura County Medical Center.

Coleman was one of two men suspected of barging into the second-story apartment in the 300 block of South Hurst Street on Saturday afternoon. The accomplice was described as a Latino in his late 20s, 5 feet, 8 inches, 200 pounds with brown hair.

In the Saturday robbery, the apartment’s two 20-year-old residents were not injured and the two thieves fled with a reported $5,200 worth of clothing, CDs and other items.

The intruders entered the apartment when one of the occupants answered the door. While one robber detained the victims in the living room, the other ransacked the home, according to police. The robbery took about 20 minutes, Ventura Police Sgt. Bob Velez said.

Officers said one of the robbers was armed with a knife.

The two robbers fled in a blue, late-model Ford Explorer with tinted windows.

On Monday, authorities said Coleman returned with another male accomplice about 1:35 p.m. and confronted the two residents outside their apartment and demanded money. One roommate turned over his wallet and ran to summon help, while the robbers forced the other roommate into the apartment where he surrendered his wallet containing about $20.

The robbers quickly ransacked the house and found a 9-millimeter pistol, which one of the residents had borrowed from a family member to protect themselves after the first robbery.

Shortly after 8 p.m., the suspect, accompanied by an unidentified woman who waited in the Explorer, returned to the apartment and gained entry a third time. The two residents had two friends with them in the apartment.

One of the residents pulled a small-caliber handgun and shot the robber while he was in the kitchen, Ventura Police Sgt. Gary McCaskill said.

“I don’t recall any other robberies where they returned to the same location, especially so close in time and proximity,” McCaskill said.

“This is certainly unique in the sense that the suspect had returned to the same location multiple times and the victims prepared themselves for him to arrive.”

Police would not identify the residents.