Drunken man shot by homeowner after trying to enter the wrong house (VIDEO)

The homeowner talked with the man through a security door at the front of his house and tried to explain to the drunk man that he was at the wrong house. (Photo credit: CBS)

A night of drinking came to an abrupt and sobering end for one man in Chula Vista, California, after police say he was shot this weekend trying to enter a home that was not his.

Officers received a phone call about the shooting just before 9 o’clock Saturday night. According to a local CBS affiliate, the drunk man first went to the front door of the home, where the homeowner opened the door but left a security door closed. The homeowner tried to calmly explain to the 41-year-old man that he was at the wrong house.

However, the man did not listen to the homeowner and simply tried to find another way to get inside. But when the man broke down a side fence and then tried to break a back sliding glass door, the homeowner – who was there with his wife and 11-month-old baby – armed himself and told his wife to call 911.

When the man, who was described as being over 6 feet tall with about a 250-pound build, started making verbal threats as he continued to try to make his way through the sliding glass door, the homeowner – fearing for his own safety and the safety of his family – shot the man, striking him in the leg once.

When police arrived, the drunken man was transported to a local hospital where his injuries are believed to be non-life threatening.

Authorities determined that the man lives several houses down and had wandered to the residence, apparently in a drunk and confused state, thinking it was his own. Police also confirmed that although they lived close, the two men were not acquainted.

“(He) is lucky to be alive,” Lt. Dan Peak, with the Chula Vista Police Department, told local media. “It could have been a lot worse. It could have been a fatal mistake.”

At this point no charges have been charged against either the drunk man or the homeowner who shot him.

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