(see related) Three burglars
who broke into a property in Villa Literno near Caserta early on
Monday, prompting the homeowner to open fire and kill one of
them, entered by a ground-floor bathroom window, sources have
said.
The burglars entered the villa while the owners - a couple
and two of their three children - were asleep after forcing
external window bars, the sources added.
The owner opened fire as the three thieves were trying to
steal a car.
They escaped in their white BMW getway car, dumping the
body of the shooting victim - said to be an Albanian national
aged around 40 - at a hospital in Aversa.
The BMW was later found burning in a field nearby, where
firefighters arrived on the scene and put out the blaze.
"It's not nice to shoot at a person," said the owner's
wife.
"But it's the eighth time they've tried to break in. If
these bandits had told us they needed money we would have helped
them as we've done in the past - but you can't break into our
home, putting us and our children in danger".
The woman added that their daughter raised the alarm when
she came home from a party at 3:30 and saw someone driving her
dad's car out of their gate. She said the burglars made off with
a wallet containing 1,000 euros in cash, and tried to drive off
in her husband's car.
However when her husband started shooting at them from the
balcony, the would-be car thief abandoned the car and jumped
onto the white BMW instead.
A neighbour said there had been numerous burglaries in the
area recently.
"The thieves are almost always foreign and we are tired of
this situation," the neighbour said.
The property owner, an industrial mechanic, has been placed
under investigation in connection with the shooting.
The possible charges against him have not been made known.
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