Off-Duty Officer Caps Home Invader; Three Arrested.

Three in custody, a stolen van recovered, and no one worth a damn got hurt. Now that's the way you do it--go all "Detroit" on these home-breaking thugs.

Officials: Off-duty cop shoots suspect attempting to break into home

An off-duty police officer who was at home with his 7-year-old daughter when at least three men tried to break into his Longwood Manor Home shot one of the men, officials said.

The incident began at about noon today when the off-duty officer was at his home with his child when he did not respond to his doorbell and a knock on the door, said Patrick Camden, a spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police.

Believing that it was a solicitor, the officer ignored the people but noticed that after not responding, a van parked in front of his home sped off, returned and parked on the side of the home, Camden and police officials said.

At that point, the officer began to hear noises in the front of his home and heard someone trying to push open the front door, Camden said.

The officer told his child to hide in a bedroom and he called 911 to report that people were trying to break in, police and Camden said.

After seeing the frame of the home giving way he went outside the side of the home and spotted the men trying to break in. As the homeowner walked around his home, he saw one of the men running north on Princeton Avenue after he was spotted, Camden and police said.

Another man ran around the home and appeared to have a gun in his hand and began pointing it at the off-duty officer, said Camden and police. The off-duty officer, who was armed, shot at the suspect and hit him, said Camden.

The suspect managed to jump into the van where a third person was waiting and the van bolted from the area, Camden said.

As the van attempted to leave, a police vehicle which had been summoned by the 911 call showed up and began chasing the van, said Camden and police.

At 89th Street and Yale Avenuepolice pulled over the van and two of the men inside were taken into custody, police said. The van was reported stolen, police said. The wounded man was shot in the back, police said.

And this is why the State of Illinois needs to step in and eliminate Chicago's many impediments to lawful gun ownership for the rest of that city's good people.