You're not bulletproof...

A homeowner shot and injured an intruder who broke into his home and refused to leave early Sunday, then held the man at gunpoint until sheriff’s deputies could arrive at the scene. Police later determined the intruder was high on methamphetamine. At 4:45 a.m. Sunday the homeowner heard someone talking outside his home. He called 911 then armed himself with a pistol while waiting for the police to respond. The intruder burst into the home and approached the homeowner who was standing in front of his bedroom door to protect his wife. The homeowner warned him to stop, but was charged at instead. The homeowner fired one shot, hitting the intruder who kept coming at him and tackled the homeowner. The two fought until the homeowner could break free, and hold the intruder at gunpoint until police arrived 20 minutes after receiving the call. (Komo News, Chehalis, WA, 3/1/13)

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LAS CRUCES - A quick-acting Las Crucen halted an attempted rape at an elementary school - but because of an uncooperative victim, police were unable to make an arrest.

Arthur Sanchez, who lives across the street from Mesilla Park Elementary School, was outside smoking a cigarette just before midnight Nov. 19 when he heard screams from the playground.

Sanchez found a woman with her shirt ripped off and, with his own firearm drawn, ordered the man on top of her to back away as his girlfriend called 911, he told the Sun-News.

“If I wouldn’t have been there, something pretty awful would have happened to that girl,” he said.

But no arrests were made because both the suspect and the victim were drunk and refused to give statements, according to the Las Cruces Police Department report, released Monday.

Officers found the woman on the ground, “screaming ‘help me, help me’ at the top of her lungs,” wearing nothing but pants - her purse, a black sock, a black earring, a black shirt and a black pair of boots scattered nearby, according to Monday’s report. “She would not tell us what happened and she was just crying … (she) just stated she needed help, it hurt, and her head was hurting,” one officer wrote. She eventually told a detective the suspect was a friend of 45 years, with whom she had a relationship, but “she was at no time forced to do anything or was assaulted by anyone. She stated she did not remember, could not explain to us or answer why she did not have her blouse on. All she kept saying was, ‘I don’t remember. I don’t remember.’”

Her alleged attacker, when questioned, was “very defiant and argumentative,” called officers a number of insulting names, had “a strong odor of alcoholic beverages,” and would not provide a statement, the report states.

“Investigations into criminal matters are even more difficult when victims are uncooperative during the interview process,” LCPD Officer Wallace Downs said. “During the initial investigation, the police officers must uncover some sort of criminal activity to continue the investigation and oftentimes this is reliant upon the cooperation of the victim.”

Downs said it is still vital for residents to report incidents they witness.

“It’s very important for witnesses, people seeing criminal activity to come forward and report this to the police,” he said.

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