Homeowner Shoots At Robbers, Kills One
DETROIT (WWJ) - A west side Detroit neighborhood is rattled after a suspected car thief is shot and killed Tuesday morning.
The shooting took place on Horatio Street near I-94 and Livernois, where a homeowner said he observed two suspects breaking into cars.
Hector Martinez told WWJ's Vickie Thomas after being targeted about three times in the last two months by thieves, he and his family got fed up and took action.
When Martinez looked outside and found two suspects in his 1998 custom Chevy Blazer parked in the backyard, he knew he had to do something.
"They busted out the rear window. Fortunately, it was after... we took everything out that we already had in there," Martinez said. "We took everything out so they couldn't take anything but apparently that didn't stop them from trying to search."
Martinez said one of the suspects was head-first in the vehicle, with his feet hanging outside the rear window.
"One guy was half way in there with his feet sticking out and the other guy was, you know, just watching," Martinez said.
Martinez told police he fired warning shots into the air to scare the would-be-robbers away, but when one suspect returned to pick up something he dropped, the homeowner shot at the suspect.
"We just fired off warning shots and it wasn't up until when the cops came that they told us that one of them was dead and one of them was injured," Martinez said.
According to police, the 26-year-old suspect who was shot drove himself to I-96 and Livernois, where he passed out and died.
Stay tuned to WWJ Newsradio 950 and CBSDetroit.com for updates on this report.
