Neighbor opens fire on San Fernando Valley burglars with pepperball gun

An alert neighbor helped scare off a group of would-be thieves at a home in the Tarzana neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley Tuesday night.

The incident took place around 10:30 p.m. in the 5400 block of Aura Avenue, where a silver SUV pulled up in front of a home, and three suspects wearing hoodies exited the vehicle.

Julian Harper-Smith, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 30 years, saw the suspects on a sophisticated surveillance system he set up at his home.

“It was just three guys hopping a neighbor’s wall … I grabbed my paintball gun/pepperball gun and I brought a flashlight just hoping that would scare them off,” Harper-Smith said.

The suspects were seen running off the property and jumping back into their getaway vehicle a short time later as video showed the flashes of light shining in the neighborhood.

“So I just put my flashlight down and just gave them a couple paintball shots to the back of the car just to tell them to ‘stay away,’” Harper-Smith said.

The burglars were unable to get anything from the home, and the homeowners were not physically harmed.

The incident comes as break-ins in the San Fernando Valley, especially in Encino, have become almost commonplace this month.

In response, the Los Angeles Police Department has increased patrols, including mounted officers who have been seen riding through the neighborhood.

Investigators have not said which, if any, of the burglaries are connected.

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