POCATELLO — James Cvengaros breathed a deep sigh of relief after learning that the man he shot early Saturday morning was still alive.
Cvengaros shot the man after he kicked down the door of his west-side apartment and entered wielding a large machete at about 7:15 a.m.
“I was defending my home and my family,” Cvengaros said. “He left me no choice, but I sure didn’t want to kill anybody.”
Cvengaros, 28, said he woke early Saturday morning to the sound of breaking glass. The suspect, who lives upstairs in the two-floor Stanford Apartments at 229 S. Garfield Ave., was breaking out the windows in his own apartment.
Cvengaros woke his girlfriend, and she started recording the commotion upstairs and called the police.
The couple then heard the man break into another upstairs apartment, a second call was placed to police at that time.
“I heard them upstairs. And I was scared, and I got my weapon. Then I heard him coming down to my door,” Cvengaros said. “He kicked open the door and came inside with this big machete. A machete like you buy at an Army surplus store.”
Cvengaros declined to identify the neighbor out of respect for the intruder’s family, but said that the man was the reason he originally bought the 9 mm handgun.
“It was the second time that he kicked my door in,” Cvengaros said. “He did it once before because he said my music was too loud.”
Once the man entered the small apartment, Cvengaros said he warned him several times to stop and told him that he was armed.
“I told him to stop. I told him, ‘I’ve got a gun, don’t make me use it,’ but he just kept coming at me. He had this crazy, glazed look,” Cvengaros said. “I thought a gun would deter him. It did not.”
Cvengaros said he fired the handgun twice, and the intruder kept coming. When he fired a third shot, the man went down.
“He said, ‘You killed me.’ I told him, ‘You were going to kill me.’ And he said, ‘Yeah,’” Cvengaros said. “I asked why he would kick down the door and enter somebody’s house, and he told me that the military had abandoned him.”
Pocatello Police Lt. Paul Manning said the man was transported to Portneuf Medical Center, where he underwent surgery for wounds to his upper torso.
Manning said, when the man forced his way into the upstairs apartment, the residents, who were familiar with the intruder, yelled at him and forced him to leave. That’s when he went to the Cvengaros’s apartment.
Cvengaros and his girlfriend spent the morning at her parent’s home while investigators worked inside the residence.
“If you would have told me a year ago that I was going to have to do this, I would have never have believed it,” Cvengaros said.
Police were also not releasing the suspect’s name Saturday and said more information, including the charges filed against the man, would be available Monday.
Lt. Cliff Kelley said Saturday afternoon that the man was in the intensive care unit at PMC after surgery.
Kelley said the investigation is ongoing. No one else was injured in the incident.
Bannock County Prosecutor Steve Herzog was en route back to Bannock County from Salmon on Saturday, when he learned of the shooting. He plans to review the reports Monday.
Herzog said he had been told that the man’s prognosis was good.
(14) comments
the renter did the proper response-warning the intruder & announcing that he was "ARMED". at this point.....the intruder made a "conscious" & "legal-binding" decision to continue his onslaught.
as a CCW holder, I know it is more beneficial-legally & emotionally-to flee from a threat-life threatening or bodily injury wise-than to "stand & shoot". this renter was "inside" his "HOME" & had famly to protect-as well as his own personal safety.
when "pushed into a corner"...any old dog will fight to stay alive. any parent will protect his famly. a lot of renters, single women & home owners-when put in a situation as this & not having a firearm to defend themselves have to find a "weapon @ hand" to "even the odds". this renter already had the upper hand-9mm vs. machete.
many home defense trainers & classes teach to aim @ "CENTER MASS", or, the "UPPER TORSO", as in this situation. generally speaking & knowing the power of firearms, rounds to the "upper torso" will either "KILL" or stop the intruder with "disabling" injuries. my belief is aiming @ the lower body area-the groin, hips, legs &/or the stomach. many times these injuries will slow & most times will "stop"-with "de-mobilizing" injuries.
as a legal firearm owner, i firmly believe that you 'DO NOT" shoot @ an intruder or a threat if there are alternate choices or escapes from the danger. i firmly believe that you only 'RETURN FIRE-IF FIRED UPON"-& I WON'T MISS!!!
death is something one has to live with when taking another's life. the CRIMINAL & CIVIL ramifactions can be overwhelming if there is a"FLAW" in the investigation or if a "bystander"-not a witness-comes forward to give disparaging "comment" that takes the investigation in an "UNFAVORABLE" direction.
owning a firearm & CC is an adult & common sense decision one has to make to enable himself. using them-legally-is the "LIFE ALTERING" decision one makes in the "split second" between "DANGER/HARM & SAFETY".
WE MUST BE TRAINED/LEARN HOW TO USE FIREARMS SAFELY, LEGALLY & FOR THE PURPOSE THEY WERE INTENDED-TO DETER THE PRESENT DANGER-STOPPING IT AS THE LAST OPTION.
If this was my home he wouldn't have left alive. This is not kill crazy rhetoric, but the facts due to my military training. In the U.S. Army they teach you that if you have to shoot someone shoot to kill - because a wounded man will kill YOU. This is a truism whether you're talking civilian life or military, regardless of what some bleeding heart lawyer or pacifist says.
In this case I do hope the intruder makes a full recovery, is appropriately prosecuted, and is treated for his likely mental illness, especially if he is a veteran.
My main take away here however is that Mr. Cvengaros was not using a sufficient caliber.
".45ACP, because they don't make a .46"
I might have done almost the same thing when someone enters my property. The only difference is I might have half empty the mag. My 9mm has an extended mag and can accomodate 12 rounds and 1 in the chamber.
Cvengaros might feel differently when he's ordered to pay this guy after a civil lawsuit brought by some do-gooder lawyer. "Your honor, I was drunk. I got some bad acid and got into the wrong apartment and this guy starts blowing me away! I don't even remember having the knife in my hand."
Good thing this didn't happen in CA. The shooter would have been arrested, too.
I would have shot him in the head save the community the expense of a trail along with the 3 and a cot.
That's what get for bringing a knife to a gun fight! That is why we have the second amendment to protect our homes...families and ourselves from thugs like this gay...
And, even if reasonable interpretations of 2nd Amendment rights, like increased background checks or limits on semiautomatic capacities were in place, Mr. Cvengaros would still have been able to defend his family.
this time, in these circumstances and even then just barely. Your argument has no standing.
No quite true, if this man has been in California and he purchased his firearm, he would have to waiting 10 days before he could have the firearm, if the incident happened during this time, he would have been dead.
At least he wasn't a victim of unreasonable magazine size limits. What makes the government think they have the right to tell people their lives are only worth a certian number of bullets.
pokyfree you are an idiot. Too bad you are not the one in the hospital now.
Pokyfree, I agree with CCWinCali, YOU ARE AN IDIOT! What is it that people think they have the right to tell the rest of us exactly how safe we can be, how much we can defend our selves. We are not the ones kicking down doors, YOU are, once you decide to remove our rights you send Jack boots in to Force your will on us instead of doing it because you sir are a coward. If you choose to limit yourself in your own defense that is your choice, You cannot make that decision for ME! There is no difference in binding a mans hands to placing him in a cage or box.
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