Woman wakes in the middle of the night to find an intruder in her home; homeowner shoots teen burglary suspect; military...
Posted by Pierce County Sheriff's Department on Monday, June 18, 2018
The incident reportedly occurred at 3:15 a.m. PDT June 16 at the home on 118th Street South in Parkland, about 40 miles south of Seattle.
The woman told dispatchers she was holding the suspect at gunpoint and "said she was unable to let the deputies inside her home because the injured suspect was laying against her front door," the Pierce County Sheriff's Department said in a news release.
When deputies arrived, they reportedly entered the back door of the home and could hear the burglary suspect "screaming in pain" on the floor in the victim's front entryway.
Police say the suspect had a "very serious gunshot wound injury to one of his arms" and a deputy applied a temporary tourniquet to control the bleeding.
A second deputy, who is a trained military combat medic, applied a second tourniquet to the suspect's arm minutes later and worked with the other deputy to "bandage an exit wound on the suspects' shoulder blade," according to police.
The deputies helped carry the suspect out of the house to an ambulance. The suspect was taken to a hospital.
The resident told police that her husband was out of town, and she woke up to the sound of her two dogs barking. The victim then looked down her hallway and saw the suspect inside her home.
The victim said she saw the suspect walking toward her bedroom "so she armed herself with a handgun and told the suspect not to move," according to police.
The suspect continued to walk toward the victim, so she fired a warning shot to the side of the suspect.
Police say the suspect was "unfazed by the warning shot and continued to approach her, and fearing for her life, she aimed at the suspect and fired a second shot, striking him in the arm."
The victim then held the injured suspect at gunpoint and called 911.
While deputies were en route, the suspect kept yelling, "I'm so high" until he collapsed on the floor, according to police.
Investigators found a bullet hole in one of the home's windows, which they say appeared to be the warning shot fired by the victim.
One of the front bedroom windows was also found open, and police say it "presumably was used by the suspect to enter the home."
Police say the 16-year-old male will be "booked on one count of residential burglary once he is released from the hospital."
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