A Virginia man opened fire when an intruder trespassed on his property and attempted to kick open his door.
A Williamsburg, Virginia, family went inside their home after witnessing a man jump the gate after emerging from a treeline.
In the Monday incident, 20-year-old Antonio Beltran Flores Perez walked onto the home’s deck, and began kicking a door in an apparent attempt to get inside.
The homeowner went on to fatally shoot the trespasser.
Major Ron Montgomery of the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office summarized the shooting, speaking to Virginia WAVY-TV.
“The family had spotted the individual coming out of the woods behind the home, and the family had gone inside the home, and this person came onto the deck and began kicking the door,” Montgomery said.
The homeowner was concerned for his family’s safety.
“The door had been locked and when he started kicking the door to make entry into the house, that’s when the homeowner shot the individual,” Montgomery said.
Did the homeowner do the right thing?
“This is very abnormal for this neighborhood. It’s a quiet neighborhood,” he added.
Perez was found dead on the back deck.
Montgomery described Williamsburg as a peaceful community, where one wouldn’t necessarily expect a self-defense shooting to be necessary.
“Nationally, we are seeing a lot more handgun violence and a lot more of these situations where burglaries or larcenies are occurring, so I think nationally that is a trend and what we’ve learned here in York County, although we have a very low crime rate, that doesn’t mean we are going to be immune from these types of crimes.”
Investigators believe that Perez arrived in the United States from Mexico in Jan. 2021, according to Virginia WWEC-TV.
This shooting wasn’t the first time in which a gun owner used his or her firearms to defend themselves or their family.
A legally armed 22-year-old, Elisjsha Dicken, took down a mass shooter at a Greenwood, Indiana, mall earlier this month.
Greenwood Police Chief James Ison has suggested that Elisjsha Dicken’s actions saved numerous lives in the tragedy, neutralizing the shooter in less than 15 seconds after he opened fire.
