Family fights off home intruder armed with hammer

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NORTH HILLS, Calif. (FOX 11) - A stranger breaks into a North Hills home and begins attacking the family inside with a knife and a hammer, but that wasn't the intruder's only weapon.

The incident occurred early this morning, just after 2:20am at a home at 8500 block of Aqueduct Avenue in North Hills.

The man, armed with a hammer, pepper spray and a knife entered into the home and began attacking the residents, one victim suffered head injuries and his girlfriend was bitten by the suspect.

A 6-year old child was inside the home at the time of the attack, but was not injured.

Officers from the LAPD arrived soon after to find the suspect face down on the ground, beaten and tied up with stereo cord. He was reported to be mumbling gibberish.

The suspect's name was not immediately released.

From Gigi Graciette:

Face down in the dirt and tied up with a stereo cord. That's how LAPD officers found a North Hills home invasion suspect at two o'clock this morning.

Luckily, the family he picked on was large in number and together they were able to take the crazed attacker down.

Crazed, by the way, is one of the many words the victims used to describe the stranger who armed with a hammer, knife and pepper spray broke into their home at 2 o'clock this morning and according to the family, began attacking them. Just like that. Without any provocation.

"We don't know him", Tan Inmaunt told me. "And it was like he wanted to kill all of us."

The stranger, who was wearing plastic gloves and rambling incoherently, appeared to be in a violent rage, she said.

"According to the family, he produced a knife and then a hammer and started hitting one of the victims on the head with a hammer.", LAPD Officer Michael Hall told me.

And hit him he did, say witnesses.

The victim, the first resident the suspect encountered, has two skull fractures and his family tells me he'll have to have surgery today. His forehead appeared to have been smashed in, blood was gushing everywhere.

When the rest of the family woke up to the sound of screaming, they quickly turned the tables on their attacker, eventually taking him down.

But it wasn't easy.

Remember, he had that hammer, the knife and the pepper spray. And, said Tan, he was trying to use all three of them.

And there was a fourth weapon.

Because when those weapons began to fail him, the family says, he began biting them.

That's right, biting.

One of his victims, a girl, was bitten several times on her arm. Ouch.

But still, they managed to bring him to the ground and tied his hands behind his back with a stereo cord. Then they pinned him down and held him for police.

Chalk one up for the good guys!

"Citizens in action", I commented to Officer William Brownell of the LAPD's Devonshire station after the family told me their story.

"It is citizens in action!", Brownell replied. "They didn't go overboard with him. They just tied him up and held him. They did an excellent job. He picked the wrong house."

I can't help but think what could have happened if he had picked another home, maybe one where a senior citizen was home alone. Or anyone was home alone for that matter.

Who stands a chance against a crazy guy armed with a knife, hammer and pepper spray? Especially when they're sleeping?

Sigh.

As for the why and who, well, right now police don't know. The suspect had no identification on him, although he did have plenty of cash and in big bills too. And he wouldn't, or couldn't, tell them his name.

And if you're thinking, like many of us at the scene were, that he was "on something", preliminary toxicology tests done at the hospital came back negative. That's right, negative. Right now it appears he's wasn't on anything.

And that just adds to the mystery.