SACRAMENTO, California - September 10, 2008 - He told police there were only moments to decide.

Several people - at least one with a gun - were breaking through the front door of his Del Paso Heights home, while his pregnant wife and two children, ages 2 and 3, slept in a back bedroom.

As the would-be invaders forced the door open, the man told police, he believed he had to act. He stuck the barrel of his shotgun into the expanding gap and pulled the trigger.

A 19-year-old man took a shot to the torso, stumbled several yards and fell dead. His accomplices - police don't know how many - fled.

The attempted break-in took place about 12:20 a.m. Tuesday at a home on the 800 block of Carmelita Avenue, just off Rio Linda Boulevard, according to the Sacramento Police Department.

Sgt. Matt Young, the department spokesman, said the home's occupant likely won't face charges for the early morning shooting because his actions appear to meet the standard for justifiable self-defense.

"The final disposition will lie with the district attorney, but at this time and stage of the investigation, we don't intend to arrest him," Young said.

The concept that one's "home is a castle" is a legal principle that dates back to English common law, said Floyd Feeney, a professor of criminal law at the University of California, Davis, School of Law.

"If someone is trying to come in your front door with a gun, you are generally going to wind up being authorized to respond with deadly force," Feeney said.