WEST ENGLEWOOD — A man who shot a burglar and scared off his accomplice Wednesday afternoon is fine and "just trying to get over this situation," his fiancee said Thursday.
The two intruders are not doing as well.
Police said two men, ages 19 and 23, broke into a home in the 5500 block of South Laflin Street about 2:25 p.m. Wednesday.
The men rang the doorbell twice to check if anyone was home, and by the time the 53-year-old reached the front door, the men were gone, his fiancee said.
Shortly afterward, they broke into the back door of the home, cops said. The 53-year-old man, who was home alone at the time, grabbed a .380-caliber handgun from under a pillow and fired at the intruders, according to police sources.
Police said the 19-year-old man was shot in the buttocks. The 23-year-old man fled and broke his femur as he jumped the back fence of the home, she said.
The woman, who asked not to be named, said she was relieved to hear her fiancee was all right and said what happened was "unfortunate but necessary.
"Things could have gone tragically wrong, and he could have ended up taking somebody's life," she said. "And for what?"
She said he could have been the one to get hurt or killed as well.
Police said the two intruders were unarmed, and the homeowner lawfully owned his gun. The man, who also declined to be named, previously worked as a U.S. Customs security guard.
Monte Potts, 23, was arrested a block from the home by police. Potts was taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition and treated for his broken leg.
Potts, of the 5600 block of South Wolcott Avenue, was expected to appear in bond court Thursday facing felony charges of residential burglary.
Police detained a 19-year-old man at St. Bernard Hospital after he walked in with a gunshot wound in the buttocks. The man was questioned and released without charges, pending further investigation, police said.
The 53-year-old's fiancee also owns the home, which had not been burglarized in the 40 years that she lived there.
But she said many of her neighbors have reported break-ins in the past few months.
"There have been a lot of break-ins in the area," she said, adding she always keeps her home locked. "It's unfortunate you have to keep your house like Fort Knox, but you know, if you want your belongings protected, unfortunately that's what you have to do."
