A homeowner shot an intruder who then barricaded himself in a bedroom at the San Pasqual Valley home early Wednesday, sheriff’s officials said.

The wounded 28-year-old man followed deputies orders to come out, and he was taken by ambulance to a trauma center. No one in the house was reported injured.

Residents called 911 about 1:30 a.m. to report the shooting at the home on Highland Valley Road, a large rural property lined by fencing topped with barbed wire west of Starvation Mountain Road.

The man banged on the front door, seeking help, and the homeowner offered to get him a taxi, said sheriff’s Sgt. Minh Nguyen. She said the stranger broke in through a back door and the 47-year-old homeowner shot him with a small-caliber rifle.


The resident told dispatchers the wounded man had locked himself inside the master bedroom. The couple’s two teenage daughters were still inside the house, in a different room. The father and mother, age 46, were outside when deputies got there.

Deputies rushed into the house and escorted the daughters out safely, Nguyen said in a statement. The house was surrounded and deputies ordered the intruder to come out.

He came out and was found to have several gunshot wounds, Nguyen said. The man was treated at a hospital, then released and booked into jail on an unrelated warrant.

Deputies were continuing to investigate at the home after sunrise. They were seen by reporters to be taking photographs inside the house, and searching the grounds by flashlight before dawn.