Resident is shot in break-in at home

Victim is recovering in hospital after confronting three intruders; links to other cases are not clear

A Riverside homeowner was shot but is expected to survive after confronting three apparent burglars inside his house early Sunday, police said.

The break-in occurred sometime around 4:40 a.m. in the 18000 block of Moss Road, said Officer Ryan Railsback, a spokesman for Riverside police.

“They did break into the home and then they were confronted by the homeowner,” Railsback said. “That’s when they shot him.”

It wasn’t clear how the trio got into the home. And police did not say how many times they shot the homeowner.

The suspects fled before police arrived. When officers got to the residence, they found the homeowner alive and took him to a hospital, where he was recovering Sunday.

Railsback said he didn’t know if the trio took anything from the home. And he said detectives are trying to determine if Sunday’s break-in was connected to other similar crimes in the same area over the last month.

There have been at least two other home burglaries in the sprawling neighborhoods just to the west of Mission Grove since April.

“It’s obvious that these are all near each other,” Railsback said. “Right now our detectives have been investigating … to determine if these are related or not. But right now at this point we can’t say if they are.”