Illinois police said that an armed homeowner thwarted a plot by a trio of car thieves after they broke into his home and stole his keys.
The homeowner, who didn’t want to be publicly identified, spoke to WGN-TV about the incident from Monday morning at his home on Sheridan road in the suburb of Winnetka.
‘There’s a real problem in the justice system.’
He said that the thugs broke into his home office while he and his family were sleeping at about 5 a.m. They obtained the keys to his cars and tried to drive them away.
One of the vehicles was behind a gate that the thieves were unable to open while the other vehicle was parked in his front driveway.
The homeowner said he and his wife were awakened by the noise of his Ferrari being started. He ran outside with his gun and seeing the group, yelled at them to stop. He said that he threatened to shoot and then heard gunshots being fired at him.
He fired back about seven times at the suspects while taking cover behind a tree.
Police said that one of the suspects fled by foot, and the other two fled in a getaway car they believe was a silver Audi. They also found dozens of bullet casings at the scene and dusted the cars for fingerprints.
The homeowner said the suspects wore masks and appeared calm and organized. He added that this was the second time in two years that his home had been targeted in a robbery.
Residents in the neighborhood were shocked by the incident.
“It’s definitely something we’re not used to, very surprising, it’s kinda like we can’t believe it,” said neighbor Tim Connell to WGN.
“I think that there’s a real problem in the justice system. Not paying the consequences is really not doing anybody in our society a service,” said Kirsten Hertel.
Police said no one was reported injured in the firefight and the two cars were recovered. WGN reported that no descriptions of the suspects had been provided at the time of their report, and police had not arrested anyone.
Here’s WGN’s report about the incident at its official YouTube channel.
Winnetka is an affluent suburb of Chicago with about 12,600 residents.
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