Former Fresno officer shoots home intruder

The suspect got shot after he broke into the home of a former officer near Herndon and Milburn. The quiet northwest Fresno neighborhood was jolted by the sound of gunfire.

Landscaper Manuel Garcia said, "I just heard like backfire."

Police said an intruder kicked in a door to get into a home at Katy and Magill. But he was confronted by a man who lived there - a former Fresno County juvenile probation officer.

The ex-officer shot the suspect. Fresno Police Lt. Burke Farrah said, "Our criminal picked the wrong house."

The suspect ran from the home. His hat, phone and jacket lay in the street a block away, where he was taken down with the help of a Kings County welfare investigator. Farrah explained, "Fortunately we had another off-duty officer that was in the area that put that off-duty status aside and immediately leapt in action, assisted in the apprehension."

The incident unnerved neighbors. Jasper Sandhu said, "Of course it is too much shocking. It had never happened like this in the past."

Others said a row of unfinished houses has attracted thieves to the neighborhood. Gabriel Ruiz said, "The unfinished homes, we had a lot of kids doing drugs and homeless people trying to live there. They were stealing the windows and steel parts."

The ex-officer was unhurt. Police say the suspect suffered non life-threatening injuries.