Georgia homeowner shoots and kills intruder trying to break in to his house

A Georgia homeowner shot and killed an intruder he caught trying to break into his house in the early hours of March 23.

The unnamed homeowner told police he found the suspect entering through the back of his home on Peachcrest Road in DeKalb County at about 5:30am that day.

He opened fire on the suspect with a gun he kept in his home. The suspect was taken to a nearby hospital after the shooting, but died from his wounds.

Police interviewed the homeowner at their station after the shooting before allowing him to return home. They said he will not be charged as he was acting in self-defense.

Nearby residents told FOX 5 they were not surprised by the incident, and that criminals had been checking for unlocked doors in the neighborhood at early hours in recent days.

The house on Peachcrest Road in DeKalb County, Georgia, where the fatal shooting took place

Neighbor Melan Sydnor told FOX 5 she heard the gunfire while she was making breakfast

A neighbor living across the street said she was making breakfast and preparing for her day when she heard the gunfire.

'I was in the kitchen and then there were gunshots and it was really loud,' Melan Sydnor told FOX 5. 'I heard a few gunshots and then about five minutes later the police pulled up.'

She said she'd previously heard gunfire further away and wasn't sure what to do when she heard the loud eruption of gunfire seemingly nearby.

Next-door neighbor Sandy Mize said they lived in a 'bad neighborhood,' that experiences frequent gunfire.

'We didn't hear any shots, but around here ,there are guns going off all the time,' she told the outlet.

'Oh yeah, it's all the time. This is a bad neighborhood. Just a lot of crime.'

'Young guys are stalking the neighborhood at night, like 4-5 in the morning, they checking doors,' she added.  

Joann Proctor lives in a nearby community, and told FOX 5 she had concerns about crime spilling over into her neighborhood.

'What you just told me really upset me 'cuz that could be one of my neighbors or me,' she said.

DeKalb County Police did not respond to DailyMail.com requests for comment at the time of publication.