Sticks and stones will get you killed.
An ill-equipped would-be crook who tried to break into a California home armed only with a wooden stake and a rock was shot and killed by the gun-toting homeowner, according to police.
The unidentified thief tried to get into the house on Diamond Circle in Oceanside through the sliding door of a rear bedroom shortly before 7:30 p.m. Monday, startling a woman inside, KUSI-TV News reported.
The 22-year-old intruder, who was armed with a three-foot wooden stake and a rock, was confronted with the homeowner and hurled the rock at him, the outlet said.
“The suspect threw a rock at a male resident of the home, striking him in the face,” Oceanside police spokesperson Heather Mitchell told the Times of San Diego.
That’s when the homeowner grabbed a gun and fired off three shots, hitting him in the chest, according to authorities.
Cops arriving at the scene attempted to revive the intruder but he was declared dead at the scene.
“The suspect may have tried to enter at least one other home by throwing a rock through a sliding glass window of that residence, causing the glass to shatter,” Mitchell told KUSI.
“It was not determined if the suspect did enter the residence and those residents were not home at the time,” she added.
Oceanside police have not filed charges in the case and withheld the names of those involved.