The owner of an auto repair shop in Temple City had been burglarized three times in recent weeks so he'd been sleeping in his shop with a .380 pistol close at hand just in case they came back.
When two men broke into his shop early Monday, he shot and wounded one of them, then held him until deputies arrived to make an arrest.
"You can only take so much," said Bob, who NBC4 is not naming out of concerns for his safety.
Bob said he was awakened at 3:45 a.m. Monday when the thieves came in.
"As soon as they came in, I was able to shoot," he said.
When Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies arrived, they saw Bob holding one of the two suspects on the ground, said Lt. Tom McNeal, of the Sheriff's Department.
He said the injured man was crying for help and wanted him to call his wife.
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"He was yelling at me, 'Why did you shoot me?'" Bob said.
The other suspect took off in a car, lost control and veered onto the curb a half a block away before running into a home. Deputies found him in a front yard and arrested him.
McNeal said it appears the shop owner's use of force was justified.
"He has the right to defend that business," McNeal said.
Inside the car deputies found some of the items stolen last Thursday from the shop, along with other property apparently stolen from at least one other location.
Bob said it was the same two suspects who had stolen from his shop last Thursday when he said surveillance cameras caught the men backing up their car to the shop, using a crowbar to pry their way inside. They allegedly took tools, computers and electronic diagnostic equipment.
The wounded suspect was identified as Steven Sissoyev, 35, of El Monte. His wounds were not life-threatening and as soon as he's released from the hospital, he'll be booked for burglary, deputies said.
