80-year-old shot ‘pregnant’ burglar in back as she fled

An 80-year-old California man who came home to find two burglars said he shot and killed one of them despite her pleas that she was pregnant. But it is the woman’s alleged accomplice who has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Police said they were still deciding whether to recommend charges against Tom Greer, who told a television station he shot the woman in the back as she fled from his house.

“She says, ‘Don’t shoot me, I’m pregnant — I’m going to have a baby,’ and I shot her anyway,” Greer told KNBC-TV outside his house.

Long Beach police Chief Jim McDonnell said the woman, 28-year-old Andrea Miller, did not appear to be pregnant, but a planned autopsy would determine whether she was.

The surviving suspect, Gus Adams, aged 26, has been arrested on suspicion of residential burglary and murder, McDonnell said. The murder charge is possible because he is accused of being involved in a felony that led to a death. He was being held on bail just over $1m (€745,000).

Both Miller and Adams, who had histories of similar crimes, were unarmed, McDonnell said.

Greer had been burgled three times before and believed the same suspects were responsible.

He returned home after 9pm to find the pair in his home. Both suspects attacked him, punching him and ultimately “body slamming” him to the floor, breaking his collar bone, McDonnell said.

Miller continued to hit him, McDonnell said, while Adams moved to a safe and begin trying to pry it open.

The homeowner was able to get to another room where he grabbed a gun and returned to open fire on the suspects. They fled through the garage and into an alley, and Greer gave chase, firing at them again outside.

Miller was hit, collapsed in the alley, and died at the scene. “The lady didn’t run as fast as the man, so I shot her in the back twice,” Greer said. “She’s dead... but he got away.”

It will be up to the district attorney to decide whether to charge Greer with a crime. Under California law, homeowners can defend themselves if they are in “imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death”.