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Homeowner Shoots Would-Be Robber

Victim, Shooter Charged

POSTED: 8:13 pm EDT September 1, 2007
UPDATED: 4:51 pm EDT September 2, 2007

One teenager is at large, one is in the hospital and a man is in jail after gunfire shattered the peace of a routine Saturday morning in Langeloth, Washington County.

Police said two teenagers were in the process of robbing a house when the owner came home and shot one of them.

"My fiancé jumped out of bed and ran for the phone and started to call. He thinks someone had been shot. We looked out the window and there was a young guy laying in the road screaming and yelling 'someone please help me' and the neighbors came out so we called 911," said Michelle Cheplik, a neighbor.

Police said that the two teenagers were masked and armed with BB guns and baseball bats.  But police said when the owner of the home, Eraldo Iannitelli, 48, returned he found them and grabbed his 12-gague shotgun.

When the two would-be robbers tried to escape, police said Iannetelli shot one of them in the back. 

Neighbors said the robber was conscious when he was flown to the hospital and police said they are still searching for the other. 

They said it was not the first time the house had been targeted.

Police said they plan to charge the victim with robbery and aggravated assault and charged the homeowner with attempted homicide and other charges, because he allegedly shot the boys while they were running away.

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