Who is Joe Howard Teague? 93-yr-old man shoots intruder after gang of thugs break into his home
MORENO VALLEY, CALIFORNIA: An intruder who was allegedly a member of a group that broke down the door of Joe Howard Teague, a 93-year-old man's Moreno Valley house after midnight on Wednesday, June 29 was shot and badly injured by the homeowner.
The group, which included "ladies and men," kicked the door open and "the big guy, he came at me," while the rest of the group "started throwing objects that [were] in the house at me," according to the homeowner Teague, who spoke to KNBC-TV. Teague told the station that "when they broke in, they got a lot of my equipment, and I approached them to put them under citizens arrest." He added, "I kept telling them, 'I have a shotgun with three shells in it,' but I actually only had one. And they kept throwing stuff at me."
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According to the Riverside County Sheriff's Office, the injured intruder is in critical condition. The station also reported that Teague was informed by officials that the injured invader won't survive; KNBC claimed it is attempting to validate this information. Given the seriousness of the intruder's condition, the Central Homicide Unit was conducting an investigation Wednesday morning, according to the station.
Teague's granddaughter's husband, Oscar Malma, told KNBC that Teague hasn't been spending much time at his home in the 24300 block of Eucalyptus Avenue as he has been living with his daughter since his wife passed away a few months ago. "Recently he's been having break-ins," Malma told the station. "It happened once on Friday; on [a] bright day they went to break in the house. And now this happened in the middle of the night? ... They were looking for him. They've been watching him. They've been watching the house for a while."
When 93-year-old Joe Howard Teague called 911 around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, he had several burglars at gunpoint, police say. https://t.co/3N7rDVpKsE
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) July 1, 2022
Following the incident, Joe Teague was brought in for interrogation, a procedure that took many hours to finish, according to KNBC. "I don’t blame Joe," Malma stated. "He's been working all his life, he's 93 years old ... and whatever little things he has, he needs to protect them."
According to KNBC, it is as yet unclear whether any arrests have been made. Malma claimed that he doesn't anticipate that his relative will be detained since "he was defending his property. That happened inside his house. So I don't think there's any reason for him to be arrested."
In a press release titled "Homeowner Justified in Shooting of an Intruder," the sheriff's office identified the injured person as 33-year-old Joseph A Ortega of Moreno Valley. Teague was unhurt, the release stated.