A California Men’s Colony Officer shot a man believed to be breaking into his home.
It happened around 2:45 Friday morning on 6th Street in Los Osos.
A neighbor also sprung into action to help hold the suspect before more law enforcement arrived.
“I heard a bunch of yelling outside and then a loud boom,” said Madeleine Rice. “I heard a man yelling, ‘Stop. Please don’t come near me. Stay back. I need help.’ And at that time, I woke up my boyfriend,” Rice said.
“My mind state was just to go help whoever was yelling for help because I woke up to blood-curdling screams,” said Rice’s boyfriend, Joseph Kennedy.
Kennedy says he first thought it was a traffic stop.
“I came across my neighbor behind me who had a guy at gunpoint outside of his house right there and he was bleeding all over the floor,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy, a security guard, says they were giving the man verbal commands to lay down while they were on the side of the house. But he says the man wasn’t listening.
“He didn’t even realize he was shot,” Kennedy continued. “I had told him you’re shot. We need to put you in handcuffs before we can get an ambulance to you and at that point, he told me, ‘I’m shot? Really?'”
Other neighbors woke up to the news.
“Terrifying to know that people are breaking into people’s houses. We’ve had people go into our cars before,” said Janie Hull.
“I’m so happy to live here,” said Arnold Kirkewoog. “It must be an anomaly, something that happens. I’m really surprised.”
Kennedy says that he’s never witnessed anything that intense before.
“It just sounded like someone was having the worst moment of their life. If that was me, I’d want someone to step in and help,” Kennedy said.
The Sheriff’s Office says the officers’ wife and kids were home when the incident happened, but they weren’t hurt.
Investigators haven’t said how many times the man was shot.
The Sheriff’s Office has not released the identity of the man involved in the alleged break-in. His condition is unknown.
