Winnetka

Intruder hit with vacuum cleaner and stabbed in struggle with family at Winnetka home

Four family members inside the San Fernando Valley home were not injured.

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A man who broke into a Winnetka house was hit with a vacuum cleaner and stabbed in a chaotic struggle early Friday morning with the homeowners.

Officers responded at about 4 a.m. to the 20100 block of Elkwood Street, where they found the suspected intruder, identified on as a man in his 20s. He had been stabbed in a confrontation with two people inside the home, police said.

The intruder was first confronted by the family's adult daughter, then by her father, police said. Joseph Santos rushed to his parents' home after they called to tell him a man broke into the home when they were sleeping.

"They saw him on the Ring camera and then the suspect went up the stairs straight into my parents bedroom," Santos said.

His parents were home with his two sisters, he said. The intruder tried to enter his parents' bedroom.

"And then they struggle for the door," Santos said. "The guy eventually broke the door open. And, yeah, my dad acted in self-defense."

His father grabbed a knife and his sisters struck the man over the head with a vacuum cleaner, Santos said. The man was hospitalized with injuries that are not considered life threatening.

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The four family members inside the home were not injured.

Neighbor Tigran Sargsyan said he saw the same intruder earlier that morning on his home security camera. The man could be heard walking on his roof, Sargsyan said.

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