Man Kills Neighbor During Break-In Attempt

RESEDA —  A man shot and killed his next-door neighbor as the neighbor tried to break into his house Wednesday morning, police said.

Theodore Baca, 49, told police that his neighbor Brian Hansen, 33, broke a window in Baca’s front door about 9:50 a.m. and started to climb into Baca’s home in the 18300 block of Sylvan Street.

Baca said he warned Hansen that he had a shotgun, and when Hansen kept trying to enter, Baca fired twice, killing him, said Detective Rick Swanston of the LAPD’s West Valley Division.

“Hansen came to the house and demanded that Baca let him enter, when Baca refused and advised him he had a gun and would use it, Hansen just kept coming in,” Swanston said.

Hansen was declared dead at the scene of wounds to the head and chest, Swanston said.

Baca told police that Hansen had threatened and beaten him two weeks ago after Baca said he would no longer cash checks for Hansen. Baca, an employee of the Department of Labor, had been cashing personal checks for Hansen for the past few weeks but some had bounced, Swanston said.

Swanston said Baca was questioned and released. The investigation is continuing, he said.

“I didn’t think Ted would shoot him,” said Margaret Hansen, Brian’s mother, with whom he lived. “He knew who he was, he knew he didn’t have a weapon.”