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Sandra Yi ReportingA Layton man confronts a burglar and sends the suspect to the hospital.
Asst. Chief Craig Gibson, Layton Police Dept.: "He was in fear for his safety and that of his wife, and shot at him."
The man fired nine rounds at the suspect before police arrived. The suspect was shot three times.
The man lives in an apartment complex. When he heard someone breaking in, he got his gun to protect himself. But the suspect is telling police it's all a misunderstanding.
The shooting has neighbors on edge.
Sagrego Martinez, Neighbor: "I am very scared now."
Sagrero Martinez awoke to yelling around 2 o'clock this morning.
Sagrero Martinez: "My mother language is Spanish, but I don't understand because I wake up and somebody speaking in Spanish. I listen to somebody, I think fighting."
The commotion was coming from next door.
Asst. Chief Craig Gibson: "A couple was asleep in their apartment."
There, a man inside heard a knock at the door. No one was there so he went back to bed.
Asst. Chief Craig Gibson: "Next thing he knows, he hears a window breaking in their extra bedroom. He sees a guy crawling through the window, that had just broken his window."
Police say the man grabbed his 9 mm gun and yelled at the suspect to leave. When the suspect kept coming toward him, the man fired his weapon.
Asst. Chief Craig Gibson: "He shot about nine rounds and struck him three times, two in the leg and one in the hand."
Officers arrested the suspect, identified as 19-year old Eleazar Maya. His side of the story left police with even more questions.
Asst. Chief Craig Gibson: "He thought that was his apartment. He thought his brother,,or whoever, whatever relative he actually lives with, just wasn't letting him in . It appears he was possibly intoxicated."
Still, police say by law, the man who lives in the apartment was right to defend himself and his family.
Asst. Chief Craig Gibson: "It doesn't change the facts. It just makes it an awfully foolish decision, if that was the case, and it could have cost him his life."
Maya was treated at the hospital and released. He was booked into the Davis County Jail for burglary.
