The man shot by a Georgia Tech student after he broke into a house just off campus early Tuesday apparently was a neighbor who thought he was at his own home, police said.
Atlanta police Capt. Adam Lee told the AJC that the three male Tech students were asleep inside their home on Curran Street off 10th Street about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday when an intruder broke through a front window of the house.
After being awakened by the breaking glass, one of the residents, a first-year graduate student at Tech, grabbed a handgun and went to investigate, Lee said.
Lee said that at some point, the intruder caused the student "to believe that they were in danger, and he shot the person one time in the chest."
The intruder, identified as Adam Keller, 23, was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in stable condition, APD spokeswoman Kim Jones said. She said Keller was "combative and had to be subdued for medical attention."
Keller, who is listed in Tech's online directory as a student in the school of Materials Science and Engineering, was charged with criminal trespass and criminal damage to property. At this time, there are no additional charges, police said.
Detective P.J. Roberson said Keller, who lives in the area, "actually entered two houses in the neighborhood, thinking it was his."
When he entered the second house, "he woke up the residents and charged at one of them, at which time the resident shot him."
"There was some video footage and it just appears like he was just confused which was his house," Roberson said. "Unfortunately, the people inside didn't know what he was doing."
The student who shot Keller will not be charged, Roberson said.
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