Police: Robber shoots himself during home invasion

(Sound Beach-WABC, Nov. 16, 2007) (WABC) -- On Long Island, three men, armed with guns, broke into a home early this morning. Now one of the robbers is in the hospital, after shooting himself during the home invasion.

Eyewitness News reporter Patricia Wu is live in Port Jefferson where the suspect is being treated.

The suspect is at Mather Memorial Hospital. He showed up there after shooting himself during a home invasion attempt. Now residents in the area say this not what they would expect in Sound Beach.

"It's a pretty quiet neighborhood. Nothing like this has ever happened before. I've been since like '96 and this is the first time I've ever seen this. So, I'm not really worried," one resident said.

This all started about about 1:20 this morning. Police rushed to a house number 405 on Echo Avenue. There was a report of a home invasion underway and shots fired.

Police say three men, armed with guns, their faces covered with bandanas barged into the home, demanding drugs. Police say there were no drugs. During the robbery, one of the robbers went to put his gun in his pants and the gun went off and he shot himself. All three suspects then took off, two on foot, one in a car.

A short time later, the suspect which shot himself showed up the at the Mather Memorial Hospital's emergency room. That's when the police were called and that suspect was arrested.

Detective continued to interview residents in the area. One man said he saw two men that looked suspicous, walking in the neighborhood earlier this week.

"I asked them question, 'where are you guys from?'...They said, 'hey, we can't walk the street?'. I asked them their name, they didn't give it to me...and then I didn't see them after that," neighbor Ali Mengulerti said.

Police are still searching for the other two suspect. They also say there were two suspects at home during the robbery but were not hurt.

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