Neither the homeowner, who was also home at the time, nor his son were injured during the incident, Mahoney said. He said they both went voluntarily to the sheriff’s office to fill out a statement.

Mahoney indicated that the preliminary investigation pointed to self-defense.

“This may be a case of ‘stand-your-ground,’ however, it’s still too early to say for sure, and we’re still looking into all aspects of this,” he said.

Mahoney told the American-Tribune that one of the suspects was armed with brass knuckles and one was armed with a knife.

“It’s still very early in the investigation, and our investigators have not completed processing the scene yet,” Mahoney said at the scene shortly following the shooting.

A neighbor, who said she would prefer to remain unnamed and lives two houses down from the crime scene, was home during the invasion. She said she heard the shots from inside her home.

“The shots were so loud — loud enough that I ran to the window to see what had happened,” she said. “Something in me knew it was gun shots, but I didn’t know what had happened until I went to leave my house and saw all the police officers.”