Tanglewood homeowner shoots burglar breaking into his house
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- "It's really surreal," says Mike Colgin, a mild-mannered retiree who never expected to open fire on an intruder into his home.
Tuesday morning around 4:30 a.m., Colgin was asleep inside his Tanglewood home when he heard the sound of glass breaking. That's when he grabbed the gun and began walking down the hall toward the living room.
"So I come up to the corner, and I look through the glass in the grandfather clock," Colgin demonstrated to Eyewitness News. "That's how I can make out who it was."
Colgin says the man's head and shoulders were already inside his home through the broken glass window. As soon as Colgin made sure it wasn't a neighbor who needed help, he made a move.
"So, I took two steps out, aimed, and boom! He went straight out window."
The suspect, Julio Socoy-Velasquez, ran down the street, but only made it about three houses down. He was quickly arrested by police, and taken to the hospital. The bullet grazed the side of his head and ear, but he was not seriously injured. Socoy-Velasquez is now in jail, and the shooting has shaken the upscale Tanglewood neighborhood.
"I thought it was shocking there was a shooting in the neighborhood," said fellow Tanglewood resident Doug Hawn, who was walking his dog near the site of the shooting. "Although I think my neighbor had every right to do it."
A portion of the break-in was captured from Colgin's doorbell surveillance video below. On the video, you can see the suspect grab a paver from the front walkway, then aim for one of the windows on the house.
"He walked over here, and bam! Starts knocking it out," said Colgin.
Since he didn't steal anything before getting shot, the suspect is only charged with a misdemeanor, not a felony robbery case. Colgin's just relieved, nobody else was hurt.
"I'm getting a lot of grief (from my friends for not firing twice, but I'm okay with just once."
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