Father stabs burglary suspect who allegedly broke into his family's Winnetka home
A Winnetka father stabbed a burglary suspect who broke into his family's home early Friday morning.
Security camera video shows a man carrying what appears to be a shovel and rattling the home's front door on Elkwood Street. He then rams his way inside.
"It was locked. It was deadbolted," said son Joseph Santos. "He just kind of rammed in. As soon as he got in, he went straight up."
Santos said the man went right to the master bedroom upstairs, where his mom and dad were sleeping. His sisters were nearby in their rooms. He said he wasn't home but that his dad fought with the suspect and stabbed the intruder with a knife.
"I definitely would've done the same thing because we are a super close family," Santos said. "We are all we have and he needed to do what he had to do."
There was a blood trail at the front door from when the suspect stumbled out. He was arrested soon after and taken to the hospital in stable condition.
"My thought is everybody has the right to defend himself or his family," neighbor Tigran Sargsyan said.
Sargsyan said the same man was on his property before the break-in while his own teenage children were sleeping.
"He came over the fence," the neighbor said. "He went to my roof and most likely trying to hide, see what's happening and sneak out."
Security video from another neighbor shows the suspect hopping into her backyard.
"I checked the cameras and someone is walking around the backyard," another neighbor said. "Then he jumped over the fence."
Sam, a 93-year-old neighbor, said he has dealt with break-ins in the past. The recent events frightened him.
"They broke into the back window," Sam said. "I was sleeping upstairs all night — could've come up and killed me, but they didn't, thank god."
