Homeowner allegedly stabs suspected burglar

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A homeowner fought back when he returned home to find two burglars inside. It happened in a north Houston neighborhood on Bauman at East Sunnyside.

The homeowner says he usually shuts his gate, but this morning he thought he'd just run to the bank and back and didn't close the gate. When he came home, he found a strange truck in the driveway.

The strange truck in the driveway was suspicious. So was the kicked in front door. So the homeowner, who did not want to talk on camera, tells Eyewitness News he first blocked the truck in with his own car and grabbed the keys out of truck.

Inside the house he said two men were gathering up stuff to steal -- his wife's jewelry, TVs, a designer handbag. That's when the homeowner grabbed a knife from the kitchen, and hid until one of the suspects saw him.

"Whenever he confronted him, he grabbed a knife, a butcher knife, and stabbed one of them in the arm and it went into his chest," said HPD Officer Jim Adkins.

The two suspects ran. The one who was stabbed, Neftali Zenteno Portillo, ran to a house around the corner. That's when police caught up with him, arresting him and taking him to the hospital.

Police also looked inside the truck and found 17 credit cards in different names. Investigators say Portillo confessed to today's burglary.

Officer Adkins said, "Not to mention the fact that they were carrying the televisions out. That does seem kind of odd."

The homeowner is a carpenter by trade and he says he'll fix his broken front door.

"I imagine he's pretty mad too and I'm glad that nobody got killed," Officer Adkins added.

A burglary charge is pending against Portillo. The second suspect is still at large.

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