'I had no choice:' Homeowner fatally shoots burglar

CLEVELAND -- A Cleveland homeowner who caught a burglar trying to enter his home, told police he fired on the suspect because he feared for his life.

The burglar, who remains unidentified, died as a result of the gunshot.

Police say the homeowner, 65-year-old Larry Hanson III, told them he heard someone breaking in to an attached section of his St. Clair Avenue house just before 3 a.m. When he went to investigate Hanson saw signs that his home was being burglarized.

The retired machinist went back upstairs to get dressed and retrieve his gun.

He confronted the burglar when he came back downstairs and says the suspect took off. Hanson followed the burglar out into a fenced yard. That's when the homeowner says the man turned and began to come back towards him.

"I told him to stop and I said, 'Hey, I got a gun,'" Hanson told Channel 3's Mike O'Mara. "He did stop for a second but then he proceeded to come at me and the next thing I knew the gun went off when he was about five feet away."

Neighbor Dave Jones said, "Larry didn't have any choice. Too many people do crime and get away with it around here. And it's about time that the law started to look out for innocent people like Larry."

Cleveland Police Department spokesman Lt. Thomas Stacho said, "It appears right now that it was self defense.

"It appears that the homeowner did what he had to do to defend himself. But that's not something that we're given authority to make a determination on. We will send this case to the county prosecutor for a review."

Ohio gun advocates like Jim Irvine, the chairman of the Buckey Firearms Association, says this is a classic example of why Ohio law should protect innocent homeowners.

"If somebody has to die I'd rather the bad guy than the victim dies," says Irvine, "but I've talked with enough victims and nobody wants to be in a situation that Mr. Hanson was in Nobody wants to take another person's life. It changes you forever."

Back on St. Clair Avenue, Hanson shook his head as he thought about the confrontation on his front lawn.

"I killed somebody. I shot somebody," Hanson said. "I ain't never felt like that before. It makes me hurt inside, but I had no choice."