‘That sucker’s coming down’: 83-year-old man pushes suspected burglar off his roof in La Puente

An 83-year-old man pushed a suspected burglar off his roof in La Puente on Tuesday, capping an hours-long standoff with deputies, authorities said.

Crisis negotiators had been called to the neighborhood, where a man was jumping from rooftop to rooftop, Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said.

The suspect was on one roof for about five hours before the elderly resident “got tired” of his antics, climbed onto the roof and pushed the man off, according to Sgt. Joseph Morales.

“The grandpa did what we couldn’t,” Capt. Tim Murakami tweeted after the incident.

“I’d made up my mind. I said, ‘He’s on my roof? Whatever it takes, he’s coming off,’ ” Wilford Burgess told ABC7 after he pushed the man off his house’s roof.

Burgess said he told his neighbor he needed to borrow his ladder to get the man down.

“I’m going on that roof. That sucker’s coming down,” Burgess said.

In a video of the incident, Burgess is seen pushing and shoving the man and giving him a few “choice words” before the man is launched off the front of the roof and slams onto the hood of Burgess’ car. The windshield was wrecked with a circular web of cracks and breaks from the man’s impact.

ABC7 reported that the suspect was admitted to a hospital for a mental evaluation. It’s unclear whether he was injured in the fall.

Burgess, meanwhile, climbed off the roof and resumed protecting his castle.

“Come in my house, you don’t have to worry … because I’m going to load up,” he told ABC7. “Just ’cause you’re old doesn’t mean you got to sit down. As long as you’re able to move, move.”

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AleneTchek

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UPDATES:

7:10 a.m., Sept. 13: This article was updated with comments from the homeowner.

This article was originally published at 11:45 p.m., Sept. 12.