Brothers shoot intruders, killing 1
Pine Hills men came home to find burglars
Susan Jacobson
Sentinel Staff Writer
12:05 AM EDT, October 15, 2009
Tired from a long day at work, brothers Anthony and Peter Julien arrived home Tuesday night to find a bedroom light on and two bicycles in front of their Pine Hills home.
Anthony Julien went inside through the garage, a 9mm gun in his hand. One intruder was in Julien's bedroom to the right. Another man was pointing a gun at him from the dining room on the left. Julien dropped to one knee, knowing it was the stranger or him.
"When I saw he had a gun in his hand, I bent down and, 'pow,' I shot him right here," Julien said.
Both brothers opened fire. One intruder was killed, and a second was wounded.
The Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office will decide whether charges should be filed against Anthony Julien, 50, or his brother, Peter, 57. Under the state's Castle Doctrine, however, residents can legally use deadly force to protect themselves against intruders.
"I'm sorry about what happened, but I didn't want him to kill me," Peter Julien said.
On Wednesday night, the two brothers cleaned up blood from a bedroom rug and a dining-room carpet and accepted visits of support from friends at their house in the 6700 block of Rubens Court.
One neighbor told Anthony Julien that her home had been burglarized, too. But he said the area, near Hiawassee and Clarcona-Ocoee roads, is normally safe and quiet.
The brothers, owners of an ice-cream truck, had been at work for more than 12 hours and made a quick stop at Walmart on the way home Tuesday. Soft-spoken, no-nonsense men from the Caribbean island of Grenada, they didn't hesitate when they discovered the strangers.
"I could have called 911, and in two days they let him go and they do it again," Anthony Julien said. "We shot them first and then called 911."
Orange County deputies identified Brandon Martinez, 17, as the gunman who was shot dead. Jonathan Rodriguez, 25, was found in a nearby driveway with a gunshot wound and was recovering Wednesday night at Orlando Regional Medical Center. Investigators are trying to sort out what happened to a third burglar whom Peter Julien also reported seeing.
A day after the shooting, the Juliens tried to put their home back together. A large rectangle of bloodstained dark-green carpet had to be removed from the dining room, where an old portrait of Anthony Julien, his former wife and their son hangs on the wall. A bloodstained mattress and box spring sat at the curb waiting for the garbage truck.
The trespassers broke a rear window. They pulled out drawers and dumped the contents. They tried to open a closet safe. They sorted through papers and envelopes, jewelry and coins. They upended bedding and tossed around clothes. Investigators found watches belonging to the brothers on at least one of the men who were shot, Peter Julien said. Some gold chains are missing, he said.
"The whole place was torn apart," Anthony Julien said as he surveyed the mess.
Tuesday's shooting was the third this month in which Central Florida-area residents have shot men who investigators say tried to victimize them.
On Oct. 4, a Daytona Beach man shot and killed Armando Navarro, 24, an armed intruder who broke into a home on Jean Street. Detectives determined the shooting was justified.
On Sunday, Oct. 11, Johnny Preston, a Lakeland tradesman, shot and wounded one of two men who tried to rob him at gunpoint in his front yard. The Polk County Sheriff's Office is investigating the circumstances.
Walter Pacheco of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009, Orlando Sentinel
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