2 would-be burglars get blasted

Josey1

2 would-be burglars get blasted By CHRIS BRENNAN brennac@phillynews.com Two burglars in a Northeast apartment got more then they bargained for yesterday afternoon when the well-armed tenant came home, police said.In a scuffle, both burglars were shot by the tenant, who was returning from an afternoon of skeet-shooting, police said.The shootings occurred at 1 p.m. in a first-floor apartment at the Manchester Apartments on Walnut Hill Street near Hargrave. Philadelphia Police Sgt. Roland Lee said the tenant found his apartment door ajar when he arrived and went inside.One of the suspects was wounded in the stomach and taken into custody. The other was shot in the arm and escaped."They picked the wrong guy," Lee said. "This guy was already warmed up."The tenant, whom police did not identify, was carrying at least two weapons, a shotgun used for skeet shooting and a 9 mm pistol.He used the pistol to shoot the two burglars after one of them attacked the tenant with a screwdriver, police said.The suspect, whom police also did not identify, was taken to Frankford-Torresdale Hospital with a single gunshot wound to the stomach. He was listed in critical condition yesterday, police said.The second suspect ran off after being shot and was being sought yesterday.The tenant had a permit to carry the 9 mm pistol and was not facing charges yesterday, Lee said.Shell casings littered Walnut Hill Street, where the tenant apparently chased the suspect who escaped into the neighborhood of apartment buildings and brick duplexes.Another tenant, who did not identify herself, said she heard the shots as she was preparing to leave her apartment with her kids. She said they were "petrified" and stayed indoors.She also said there has been a problem with break-ins in the last week at the building. A woman who answered the phone at the apartment complex's office declined to comment. * http://dailynews.philly.com/content/daily_news/2001/11/24/local/BANG24C.htm