Dec 27, 2014 1 min read

Washington County Coroner Tim Warco said an unidentified man was shot in the chest and killed this morning when he broke into a home in California Borough.

Warco said the man, described as a dark-skinned black man with short hair in his mid-to-late 30s, was an intruder in a home on California Road around 3:35 a.m. Warco said the man came into the home through a window. When the homeowner, who was not identified, confronted the man, he started running toward the homeowner, Warco said.

The homeowner fired a single shot from a handgun that hit the man in the chest, according to a prepared release.

Warco said the alleged intruder exited the home through the front door and collapsed in the front yard about 50 feet from the home. The man was pronounced dead at the Monongahela Valley Emergency Room around 4:50 a.m., Warco said.

California police and state police are investigating.