Homeowner recounts taking gun from armed home intruder to shoot him. ‘Trying to survive’

An Indiana homeowner who said he fatally shot an armed intruder described the situation as a scene out of a movie.

The incident happened at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 2, outside a home on the east side of Indianapolis, police told the Indianapolis Star.

The homeowner, Brent Smith, said he’d just returned from the grocery store when he saw a man approach his home and put on a ski mask, WRTV reported.

“He hit me in the head with his gun,” Smith told the station. “I yelled out ‘he is robbing me’, thinking my neighbors would hear me.”

Smith and the intruder fought inside his home, and the homeowner eventually knocked the gun away from the man’s hand, according to WTHR.

“It was like a movie, me and him wrestling over the gun,” Smith told WXIN.

Smith said he retrieved the gun and shot the man, according to WTHR. That’s when accomplices of the suspect fired dozens of shots from the street, he said.

He fired back, telling WRTV he heard “what felt like thousands of shots.”

“I was just basically trying to survive myself,” Smith said in an interview with WXIN.

Smith said he eventually used his own gun to shoot back at the other shooters, who drove off, WTHR reported.

The accused intruder, 22-year-old Damon Lamar Swanigan, was pronounced dead outside the home with gunshot injuries, the Indianapolis Star reported.

Police said Smith was “OK” and released him after questioning ”pending further investigation,” the Star reported. Investigators are now looking for the other shooters involved.

This story was originally published January 4, 2024 at 8:07 AM.