INTRUDER SHOT BY HOMEOWNER SUSPECT'S MOM SEEKS HELP FROM DEPUTY.

Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS Staff Writer

CANYON COUNTRY -- A woman shot a gang member Wednesday who had broken into her Canyon Country home while his mother waited outside in the getaway car, sheriff's deputies said.

The 29-year-old suspect, whose wounds were not life-threatening, snapped the lock on the homeowner's screen door and barged in as the woman retreated to the backyard, gun in hand, according to a sheriff's report.

``To be honest it's fairly rare, but occasionally it does pay off to own a gun,'' sheriff's Lt. Tom Bryski said.

When suspect Mike Lugo of Palmdale approached the woman about 10:45 a.m. through her back door, yelling at her as he advanced, the woman shot him with a Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver. Frightened, she hit him twice in the abdomen and once in the leg, missing a fourth shot, Bryski said.

Lugo managed to run from the Canvas Street street house and got into the Dodge Intrepid, with his mother, Cynthia Brandon, behind the wheel, Bryski said.

Brandon, 51, drove off, but the Palmdale resident didn't know where a local hospital was, Bryski said. So she flagged down a sheriff's deputy speeding by on Soledad Canyon Road and Deep Creek Drive. The deputy was responding to the victim's 911 call.

The victim, who was not identified for her protection, was within her rights, shooting Lugo in self-defense, Bryski said.

Lugo was taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, where he underwent surgery and was expected to survive. Brandon was arrested and booked on suspicion of burglary at the sheriff's Santa Clarita station.

Mother and son are being held in lieu of $50,000 bail each.

In the Dodge Intrepid being driven by Brandon, sheriff's deputies found a computer they suspect was stolen from another location. The mom-and-son burglary team did not know the victim, and they were apparently prowling around the neighborhood looking for a house to break into, Bryski said.

Neighbor Victoria Parker, 43, said she came out at about 10:30 a.m. and was surprised to find her dog in the frontyard, with the side gate open. She never leaves that gate open, and she wondered if the suspect opened it, then moved on to the neighbor's house.

``Maybe they discovered the dog and backed off,'' said Parker, as she stood by her gate.

The woman who shot the suspect is friendly and knows her neighbors, Parker said.

``Whoever (the suspect) was, it had to be justified. ... She's the kind of person I would trust my children with,'' Parker said.

Eryc Fults, 39, who lives a few houses away from the victim, heard shots, but thought they were wood pallets being dropped up the street. He learned later that the woman had shot a suspected burglar.

``Good for her,'' he said. ``Well, not good that she shot him, but if somebody's breaking into your house ...''

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(ran in SAC edition only) Sheriff's deputies stand outside the Canvas Street home in Canyon Country where a resident shot a suspect trying to break into her home Wednesday.

David Crane/Staff Photographer