As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. In the case of a armed homeowner who snapped a photo of a group of intruders as he held them on the ground at gunpoint while waiting for police to arrive, the message being conveyed is that he exercised his Second Amendment rights to protect himself and his family.
Yan Zhang was at his Chino Hills, Calif. home with his wife and children on Monday afternoon at around 1 p.m. when they suddenly heard movement coming from the upstairs balcony overlooking the backyard.
Presumably suspecting that his home was about to be broke into, Zhang acted fast, grabbing his handgun while his wife kept the children safe. He then confronted five suspects as they tried to enter the home through the upstairs door on the balcony.
One neighbor, Tony Tran, told KTLA that Zhang fired a warning shot, though that fact isn’t mentioned in the Chino Hills Police Department press release.
Two of the would-be intruders took off from the scene, but Zhang held the other three face down at gunpoint on his balcony while a neighbor called 911. That’s when he snapped the photos you see above, which he then posted to a social media messaging app called WeChat.
- RELATED STORY: 12 Security Essentials to Prevent a Home Invasion
Police arrived and were able to locate the other two missing suspects soon after. Roberto Alonso Salmon, 18; Garret Rogers, 19; Ruben Medivil, 19; and Joaquin Leonardo Salmon Garcia, 20; were taken into custody and are being charged with attempted burglary. The fifth suspect, a 17-year-old juvenile, was cited and released to his parents.
Thankfully, Zhang and his family were uninjured during the incident.
