Attempted burglary streak ends with shooting

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - The story ends with a resident shooting an armed man who smashed the window on the door of his home. The intruder was trying to unlock that door. His robbery attempt almost ended hours earlier when Mike Hathaway heard a commotion outside a different home, his home, down the same street.

Hathaway grabbed his gun, walked outside and found someone breaking into his neighbor's truck. He drew his gun and confronted the burglar outside the truck

“About that time, Clint came out the back door of his house with a gun in his hand, so we're coming from two different angles," said Hathaway. "Well, he jumped up and faced me and put his hand over his head and stood there for a moment and I thought there was going to be gunfire." There wasn't.

The man ran off into the woods. When deputies came to take a report, Hathaway said he discovered something that made his blood run cold. The pistol in his truck was missing.

"At the time, I didn't know or really think he could be armed," explained Hathaway. "But then after the fact, I realized he'd stolen my gun. It really gives you a little feeling inside."

Hours later, Hathaway's gun resurfaced -- in the hand of the man breaking into another home just down the block from his. The owner of that home fired two shots at the intruder. Life Flight medical helicopter brought the 31-year-old burglar to the hospital. Other neighbors told FOX 26 News that there is a lesson to be learned.

“This is for anybody who thinks or is foolish enough to come into these houses," said Sheila Norton. "We're country people out here and our guns are loaded.”  

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office has not released the identity of the intruder.