HOUSTON — It was a bizarre scene in north Houston Thursday when a neighbor shot and killed an alleged intruder who set a home on fire and attacked a woman inside.
It happened Thursday at East 35th and Arlington in the Independence Heights neighborhood.
“I’m trying to make sense of all of this, what’s going on," said family member Gwendolyn Harris. "Because this is a lot to deal with.”
Police said they were initially called to the house concerning a dispute.
The alleged intruder was gone by the time officers got here. But they said he later returned.
"Basically, he came back to the scene, broke a window up front and poured an accelerent into the window and lit it on fire,” said HPD detective Jerry Young.
Police told us the man chased the woman through the burning house and into the back yard.
He stabbed her repeatedly before a neighbor intervened and shot him after several warnings.
"The neighbor asked him to get off of her and he wouldn’t," said friend Kevin Polk. "And when he hit him one time, he kept coming and kept stabbing.”
The woman remains in critical condition at Ben Taub Hospital.
It’s unclear how many times the alleged intruder was hit.
Many who showed up to the scene were glad the neighbor stepped in.
"They did a good job, that’s justice," said Harris. "Because he had no business setting that fire and he had no business cutting up that girl like he did."
An elderly man, who we were told lived in the home for years, was uninjured during the incident. His home appears to be a total loss.
The neighbor was taken downtown for questioning.
Meanwhile, family members are trying to salvage what they can at the house.
Check back later for more on this developing story.
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