SAN ANTONIO – A Northeast Side man says hurting someone else was the furthest thing from his mind.
Yet that is what he says he was forced to do after finding a stranger outside his home, located in the 6900 block of Caribou Creek, early Tuesday morning.
RELATED: Homeowner shoots car burglary suspect in Northeast Side neighborhood, police say
“I was just lying in bed around 3 a.m. The camera went off letting me know there was motion detected in the front,” said the homeowner, who did not want to reveal his identity.
The 36-year-old military veteran and Purple Heart recipient said what he saw on his surveillance camera prompted him to grab his gun and head out to his driveway.
He said a man wearing a red hoodie was inside his pickup, going through his property.
After he confronted the stranger, though, the homeowner says things took an especially scary turn.
The suspect, he said, began running, seemingly heading for his front door. The two then met face-to-face in the front yard, the homeowner said.
“It was pitch black. I couldn’t see what he had in his hands,” he said. “All I know is he raised his hands and was coming toward me, so I began to fire my weapon.”
According to officers at the scene, the homeowner fired at least ten rounds.
After daylight, it was clear that some of the gunfire had struck a neighbor’s parked SUV and garage door.
No one else was hurt.
The suspect, who was wounded once in both legs, later showed up at a neighborhood hospital about a half mile away.
Although the suspect initially denied being wounded at the scene of the car burglary, police say they found his car, with blood inside, in the parking lot of the hospital.
They say the red sedan matched the description of the one that left the scene of the shooting.
Police say there were reports of a second person inside the car with him, but that other person was gone when officers arrived.
They say the 19-year-old suspect’s wounds were not life-threatening.
“I felt as though I was protecting myself. It wasn’t about protecting my property,” the homeowner said, later. “I wasn’t trying to take someone’s life for personal property.”
At least for now, police appear to agree. They said the homeowner is not facing any charges at this time.