Cops: Homeowner shoots burglary suspect

A burglary suspect remained hospitalized Sunday after he was shot by a homeowner early Saturday in Riverhead, police said.

Thomas Anderson, 33, of Riverhead, is charged with second-degree burglary in the 4:40 a.m. incident, Riverhead Town police said. A hospital official said Sunday that Anderson was in the surgical intensive care unit at Stony Brook University Medical Center.

John Kwasna, a Suffolk County correction officer, reported that he confronted the suspect upon seeing him in the hallway of his Old Farm Road residence, police said.

As Anderson ran toward him, Kwasna, 45, fired a shot from his handgun, striking the man in the shoulder, police said. Officers responded to find a wounded Anderson a short distance from the scene.

Kwasna, a correction officer for 20 years, was not injured. He did not return a call for comment Sunday.

Anderson was first taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center, but because of his injuries, he was transferred to Stony Brook, where he remains in police custody. The Stony Brook official declined to provide Anderson's condition.

His mother, Dorothy Spruill, said she has been unable to get an update on her son's condition as of Sunday afternoon.

Spruill acknowledged that Anderson has had brushes with the law -- records show he was convicted of attempted drug sales more than a decade ago -- but said she didn't believe he would "break into somebody's house to steal something."