MARION COUNTY, Fla. — A 27-year-old man was in intensive care Monday after being shot by a homeowner during a home invasion, investigators said.
When deputies arrived at the home in Northwest Ocala, they found Victor Alex Etherington naked and hiding behind the bedroom door.
He had defecated on himself, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said.
The incident happened Sunday evening when Etherington started knocking on the 54-year-old homeowner’s window and demanded she let him in, deputies said.
The victim was not identified by investigators.
The woman told Etherington to leave, but he kicked in the door and chased her upstairs to her bedroom, deputies said.
The woman told investigators she locked the door, called 911 and armed herself with a .22 caliber handgun.
She locked herself in the bedroom closet when Etherington forced his way into the bedroom, deputies said.
Once inside, the man took off his shorts -- “which he had defecated in” -- and forced his way into the closet, at which point the homeowner shot him in the stomach, a sheriff’s office report said.
"The intruder ended up with no clothes on in her bedroom," Lauren Lettelier of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said.
Deputies arrived at forced their way into the home and found Etherington naked and hiding behind the bedroom door, the report said.
Etherington was taken to Ocala Regional Medical Center where he underwent surgery, investigators said.
He was in the Intensive Care Unit, but his condition was stable, they said.
The homeowner did not know the intruder, but detectives believe he lived in the home for about 12 years before moving, the sheriff’s office report said.
Deputies said the man was intoxicated and was in the wrong home.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing, and thus far investigators have not been able to determine why Etherington broke into the home in the first place.
Charges against the man are pending, the sheriff’s office said.
Cox Media Group
