(IL) Dad shoots intruder outside daughter’s bedroom 06-06-03

Chicago Tribune | Police: Dad shot intruder outside daughter’s room
Address:http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-030606shooting,0,4938121.story?coll=chi-news-hed
By Virginia Groark
Tribune staff reporter
Published June 6, 2003, 1:47 PM CDT

Franklin Park police and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office are
to meet this afternoon to decide if charges should be brought against a
village resident who fatally shot and killed a neighbor who broke into
his home Thursday night, authorities said.

Police also are trying to determine if the resident had a firearm
owner’s identification card for the .45-caliber semi-automatic weapon he
allegedly fired, fatally wounding Steven Langendorf, 24, of the 3000
block of North Gustav Street in the western suburb.

Around 10 p.m., the man, his wife and their 13-year-old daughter heard a
noise outside their home on the 3000 block of North Calwagner Avenue,
Franklin Park Police Chief Randall Petersen said.

Shortly afterward, Langendorf forced his way through a window in the
daughter’s bedroom, where she had been finishing her homework, Petersen
said. While his wife called 911, the homeowner grabbed his gun and
confronted Langendorf in a hallway outside the teenager’s bedroom.

The resident fired two warning shots, and when Langendorf continued to
approach, he shot him in the neck, Petersen said. No one else was
injured in the incident.

Police arrived at the home and found
Langendorf lying on the hallway floor. He was taken to Gottlieb Memorial
Hospital, Melrose Park, where he was pronounced dead at 10:25 p.m.,
according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Langendorf’s home is located diagonally and across the alley from the
one he allegedly invaded. Petersen said he did not think the two
families were friends but added, “They must have known each other at
least by sight.”
Petersen said Langendorf did not have an arrest record.

“There’s nothing,” the chief said. “It doesn’t fit.” A family friend
said Langendorf went to a local high school and college and worked for a
rental car company. He was engaged to be married.