Studio City man attacked with bear spray after confronting masked burglars

A Studio City man who was trying to help his neighbors was attacked with bear spray after confronting two masked suspects after they broke into the house across the street from his on Friday afternoon.

Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department responded to the 4200 block of Denny around noon after receiving reports of an assault with a deadly weapon and burglary.   

Steven Calabro was able to take pictures of the suspects just in time before they got away. One of the pictures shows the moment the suspects, who had allegedly ransacked the Studio City home, hit him with bear spray as he was trying to catch them on camera.

"Yeah, it's rough. It's horrible," Calabro said. "I don't recommend it."

Calabro, who has lived on the street for over 20 years, says his neighbors reached out when they saw the thieves in their house through their home security cameras.

"I got the message saying, 'We're being robbed,'" Calabro said.

The former boxer says he immediately ran outside to try to help.

"It was just to come and, you know, take pictures, not anything crazy, just let them know that we're watching and that they shouldn't do that here anymore," he said.

Calabro snapped pictures of the getaway car, the two masked men leaving the property and the moment they attacked him with the bear spray. He gave all of the pictures to the police to help with their investigation.

"Kudos to him. I'm glad he did, because I would have done the same," said Richard Aprahamian, a neighbor. "I mean, I'm not going to allow that in my neighborhood, or any neighborhood. It's somebody's home, for crying out loud."

While the burglary victims did not want to talk on camera, Calabro says the thieves got away with irreplaceable items before driving away in a white Kia with a blacked-out windshield.

With the recent spike in burglaries across the San Fernando Valley, Calabro says it's up to neighbors helping neighbors to keep each other safe.

"It just reinforces the fact that we all need to take care of ourselves. Everybody just needs to pay attention," Calabro said. "No one needs to get involved. If you don't want to get involved, don't get involved, but pay attention."

The LAPD is now investigating, but Calabro claims that police took an hour to respond, further enforcing his point that neighbors need to talk to each other and be aware of what's happening on their street.