FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A 16-year-old boy was shot Tuesday morning after he was caught burglarizing an SUV in Fort Lauderdale, authorities said.
The incident was reported shortly before 5:30 a.m. in the area of Southwest Sixth Street and Sixth Avenue.
Police said a tenant who lived at the home where the vehicle was parked outside of shot the teen after catching him in the act.
"If you break into someone's house late at night, what do you expect?" one neighbor, Evio Landa, said.
Another neighbor told Local 10 News reporter Terrell Forney that he heard four to five shots.
"A car is a car. It's insured. Just call the police, look out the window and stay out of it, ya know? Landa said. "Nothing worth getting involved to that degree for, in my opinion."
The teen was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said.
The same home was targeted in a home invasion that was reported in 2013.
In that incident, a couple was tied up inside the home and the thieves escaped with electronics, cash and a white Lexus.
The homeowner lives next door to the unit, where the personal property of his tenants have been targeted twice.
"It's the holiday season and people are going to be looking to steal anything they can, so protect yourself," neighbor Adam Ginsberg said.
The teen's identity was not immediately released.