A homeowner armed with a hammer recalls fighting back against an intruder who had broken into his Norwalk home on Thursday.
The incident happened around 1:45 a.m. as the victim and his wife were sound asleep. They were suddenly awoken by their barking dogs.
“[The dogs] are not really big barkers and their bark was really deep,” said the victim, Kevin Perez.
Perez looked around his home and didn’t see anything at first until he noticed something moving in his office. Suddenly, he saw an intruder standing in the dark.
“When I saw him, it was probably one of the scariest things I had ever experienced,” he said.
The suspect, identified as Armando Torres, 32, was found standing in Perez’s home, wearing no shoes.
“I yelled at him,” Perez recalled. “I said, ‘What are you doing in here? Get out!’ He pushed the door closed on us and then tried to jump out the window he had climbed in.”
The suspect’s dirty handprints can still be seen on the office door. Perez said he chased after Torres and was able to grab his leg before he could escape.
“I was trying to drag him back into the house so I could pin him and check him to make sure he didn’t have anything,” he said.
As the suspect dangled out the window, he eventually managed to wiggle away. Fearing for his family’s safety, Perez grabbed a hammer and began chasing Torres down the street.
“Once he tripped, I just got on top of him and was like, ‘Dude, don’t move. My fiancée is already calling the police,” Perez said. “He saw that I had the hammer in my hand, and I told him, ‘If you move, I’m going to hit you.’ Then he tried to grab the hammer and I pulled away. I said, ‘Try that again and I’m going to hit you in the head.’”
Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies later arrested Torres for suspicion of burglary. They believe the man is homeless. He is being held on $50,000 bail.
When asked whether he was worried the suspect would try to stab or shoot him, Perez said his instinct to fight and protect just kicked in.
“I didn’t think,” Perez said. “It probably should have ran through my head but I really didn’t [think], especially with my fiancée behind me.”
Perez offered some advice to anyone who might encounter an intruder in their home.
“I think having a plan is probably the most important thing you can do,” he said. “And then just sticking to the plan.”
He says Torres didn’t escape with any personal belongings and that no one was injured during the ordeal.
The suspect is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 11.