Tequesta, Florida

From the Palm Beach Post of August 3, 2007

Resident shoots Tequesta man he thought was breaking in

A man is dead after a resident shot at him with a handgun because he thought the man was trying to break into his house.

Shortly before 2:30 a.m. on Thursday, police responded to a call about a burglary in progress at the home of James and Sabrina Fantin, according to a news release. They found Paul Mantwill of Tequesta lying injured outside the home at 198 Golfview Drive.

Mantwill, 41, was flown to St. Mary's Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at about 8 a.m. that same morning.

Police are investigating the incident as a possible homicide, spokesman Peter Allen said.

The preliminary investigation indicates that 41-year-old James Fantin thought Mantwill was trying to break into his house, and Fantin fired two shots from a handgun. Allen said Friday that it was inconclusive whether Mantwill was struck by the shots, and that police are waiting on the medical examiner's ruling for a cause of death. An autopsy on Mantwill was being done Friday.

Mantwill's neighbors on Yacht Club Place described him as a nice, gentle man who lived with his parents, tending to his mother, Pauline, before she died of cancer in February.

Pete and Joan Gomez, who lived on the small waterfront cul-de-sac with the Mantwill family, said that Paul Mantwill spent his Sundays ushering the 10:30 morning mass at St. Jude Catholic Church and was a member of the Knights of Columbus, they said.

"Every time we were out, he'd come over and talk, he was very friendly," Joan said.

"I'm surprised he was out that early in the morning," her husband said Less than a mile away, the Fantin's butter-colored home seemed vacant. The blinds on the front windows were closed shut, the driveway was empty and yellow "caution" tape sealed off the back yard. The Fantins could not be reached for comment.