Police on Thursday identified the slain woman as Andrea Miller, 28, of Long Beach. A man who identified himself as Tom Greer in an interview with
NBC Channel 4 said he shot her dead as she and her alleged accomplice, 26-year-old Gus Adams, attacked him in his home and then attempted to flee.
While police are still working to determine whether Greer was justified in shooting the woman, who may have been pregnant, Adams faces a potential murder charge, in addition to robbery.
In California a person can be charged with their accomplice’s death if it occurs during the commission of a crime.
Adams is being held on more than $1 million bail.
Police say Adams and Miller attacked Greer, 80, after he walked in on them burglarizing his home in the 3900 block of Country Club Drive in the upscale Bixby Knolls neighborhood Tuesday night. But when Greer produced a .22-caliber handgun, they fled.
Greer told KNBC he chased the pair and shot Miller twice in the back in the alley, then pulled her body back onto his lot.
In his taped interview with the station, he said the woman shouted, "Don't shoot me! I'm pregnant -- I'm going to have a baby."
“I shot her anyway,” Greer said. “The lady didn’t run as fast as the man so I shot her in the back twice --she’s dead … but he got away.”
An official at the Los Angeles County coroner's office on Friday said they could not yet confirm publicly whether Miller was pregnant.
Greer told Channel 4 that he acted in self-defense and that the pair had burglarized his home twice before.
Police confirmed that the intruders beat Greer with their fists, body slammed him to the ground and tried to break into his safe.
But in a news conference Thursday, Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell said the investigation is not over, and detectives will present their report to county prosecutors to determine if Greer was justified in slaying the woman.
McDonnell said the home had been burglarized on three previous occasions, but no one was home at the time of those incidents.
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