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Police say that a 29-year-old Long Beach man, whose friends say would "never hurt a fly," was shot and killed by a homeowner after he scaled a wall and broke a window to get inside the house early Sunday morning.Friends are in disbelief that Ryan Anderson would attempt to burglarize someone's home and said that they believe it was a "drunken mistake" and he must have stumbled into the wrong house intoxicated. The photographer and artist lived just four blocks away from the home located on the 2800 block of East Third Street where he was fatally shot inside the house around 2:45 a.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
However, Long Beach police said on Monday afternoon that they found evidence that Anderson "scaled a wall to gain access to the backyard and then broke a window to enter the home," according to City News Service. They also said Anderson was "found to have personal property belonging to the resident on his person.''
Neighbors said that a couple who are both in their 60s, live inside the house where the alleged burglary took place. Only one of the residents was home at the time when the gun was fired, according to the Long Beach Post.
Anderson's mother told CBS Los Angeles that she had spoken to her son just ten minutes before the incident, and that he sounded drunk, disoriented, and said he was having a hard time finding his way home.
"I know 100 percent, I bet my life on it, he would never do that," said Tarra Riggi, a friend of Anderson's. "I think he just had a late night and went into the wrong house - it was just a horrific accident."
Though there were mixed reactions from neighbors of the homeowner who shot Anderson, some empathized with the resident and said there were a number of break-ins reported in the area recently. "I’m not surprised he reacted the way he did," Mayra Laureano, 48, told the L.A. Times. "If he was under the belief that this was a home-invasion, then he was justified."
Authorities have ordered a toxicology test to determine if Anderson was under the influence of drugs or alcohol during the incident, but that could take weeks for results to come in.
Anderson's friends held a candlelight vigil for him on Monday evening:
Friends of Ryan Anderson, alleged #longbeach burglar, hold candles, flowers outside popular Mexican eatery Hole Mole. pic.twitter.com/DjBGu2saB9
— Lauren Williams (@LAWilliams30) August 12, 2014
