Resident shoots and kills man who broke into home, California police say

Residents of a California neighborhood heard a commotion outside early Thursday morning.

“Around 4:15 or 4:20 a.m. there was extreme banging, it sounded like it was in our backyard,” Amy Lee of Newport Beach told the Orange County Register. Others heard a man swearing.

“He’d been around the house for like 20 minutes then came around to the front and broke the front door down, that’s when he entered the house,” neighbor Bill Finster told KNBC.

That’s when neighbors and police officers responding to reports of the disturbance heard a shot.

A resident of the home had fatally shot the intruder, who was found dead inside, a Newport Beach Police Department press release said. The man’s name has not been released.

The man may have been mentally ill or intoxicated, police said. An investigation into the incident is continuing. The release said there’s no ongoing threat to public safety.

This story was originally published August 29, 2021 at 8:30 AM with the headline "Resident shoots and kills man who broke into home, California police say."