Joe Teague 93 year old Moreno Valley homeowner justified shooting intruder cops say during burglary of man’s Southern California home.
A 93-year-old southern California homeowner is to face no charges after shooting and critically wounding an intruder who was part of a group that kicked in the man’s door at his Moreno Valley residence after midnight Wednesday and proceeded to attack him.
Joe Teague told KNBC-TV the group — which consisted of ‘ladies and men’ — ‘kicked the door open (just after 2am),’ after which ‘the big guy, he came at me’ and the rest of the group ‘started throwing objects that [were] in the house at me.’
Continued Teague, ‘when they broke in, they got a lot of my equipment, and I approached them to put them under citizens arrest,’ the home dweller said, adding that ‘I kept telling them, ‘I have a shotgun with three shells in it,’ but I actually only had one. And they kept throwing stuff at me.”
Teague despite his repeated entreaties demanding that the intruders leave the premise then fired his shotgun once, striking one of the intruders, the 93 year old told KNBC.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office said the wounded intruder was in critical condition, with the intruder expected not to survive.
‘Recently he’s been having break-ins,’
Oscar Malma — who’s married to Teague’s granddaughter — explained to KNBC that Teague had been living with his daughter since his wife died a few months ago, and hadn’t been at his home in the 24300 block of Eucalyptus Avenue as much.
Malma said burglars had taken notice of the elderly man’s absence.
‘Recently he’s been having break-ins,’ Malma told KNBC.
‘It happened once on Friday; on [a] bright day they went to break in the house. And now this happened in the middle of the night? … They were looking for him. They’ve been watching him. They’ve been watching the house for a while.’
‘He’s an old retired plumber and he has a lot of tools. He was a musician as well, so he has a lot of musical instruments. Little by little they’ve been ripping him off,’ Malma said.
Adding, ‘I don’t blame Joe. He’s been working all his life, he’s 93. He’s been working on his life and whatever little things he has, he needs to protect them.’
It remained unclear if any of the critically wounded man’s accomplices were arrested.
The wounded individual was identified as 33-year-old Joseph A. Ortega of Moreno Valley, the sheriff’s office said as part of a press release titled, “Homeowner Justified in Shooting of an Intruder.” The release added that Teague was unharmed.
Teague is not expected to face any charges KTLA reported.
The Central Homicide Unit continues to investigate.
