Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Florida: Police: Armed intruder killed by armed resident

Palm Coast, Florida

From the Daytona Beach News-Journal of December 18, 2007
Police: Armed intruder killed by armed resident

A man was shot to death Tuesday night outside a home on Pheasant Drive after a gun battle with a resident of the home, authorities said.

Flagler County sheriff's officials are withholding the name of the slain man, who appears to be in his 20s, until family members can be notified.

Deputies were called to the home at 43 Pheasant Drive shortly before 7 p.m., Chief Deputy Rick Look said.

They found what appeared to be a case of self-defense initiated after the man entered the home "uninvited," Look said.

The two residents, a man and woman whose names were not released, told investigators the man entered their home through the unlocked front door. The male resident "grabbed a gun and fired it at the intruder," Look said.

The intruder ran out the front door, turned around and fired a gun at the residents, Look said they told investigators.

The male resident returned fire, Look said.

Investigators aren't sure which shot was the one that killed the man, causing him to fall outside the home.

Look said they can't be certain until further investigation but investigators don't think the event was random.

"We're trying to determine if there's a relationship between the victims and the suspect," Look said.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement was called in to assist the Sheriff's Office and process the scene, Look said. And even though the shooting ended outside in plain view of neighboring homes, "neighbors didn't see anything," Look said.

"I heard something," a woman who lives across the street from the home said. "I just thought it was firecrackers, though."

The resident declined to give her name but said the experience was "pretty freaky" for her. She moved to Palm Coast from Miami, and although there's more crime in South Florida, "it was never this close to home," she said.

Investigators are also looking into what a neighbor called a "suspicious silver Hyundai" that was parked across the street from the home for three days.

"It didn't move, and now suddenly it's gone," the woman said.

Further links:
Man Fatally Shoots Home Intruder

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