Just a few of my thoughts. Obviously we don't know the REAL story. However, at the point that the resident was in his home and the suspicious characters (since it is unclear whether they were breaking in to the house or were just in the yard) were on the run my immediate concern would be to secure my family in the house. By leaving the house and chasing the suspects he left his family vulnerable. That is unless someone else in the house had a weapon, knew how to use it, and would be able to identify him from a returning intruder before it was too late. And, if they were indeed breaking in, how did he know there wasn't an intruder already in the house that he left with his family inside? At what point were the police called? And how about those sixteen rounds? A neighborhood, at night, sixteen rounds! I really don't think he hit his intended targets sixteen times. They had to go somewhere! Seems pretty reckless.
Since we only have limited info these are all just thoughts. We don't know if he recognized these characters from previous trouble. We don't really know if this is a high crime area, or how many times he's been a victim. Maybe he was just fed up and anger took control. I don't know, but if he can't prove they were breaking in or were intending to break in, he might have some trouble. He will probably be ok.
I didn't mention anything about the suspects having a gun because I don't know. The Chronicle article says the homeowner returned fire but the ABC13 article says "It's either them or me or my family and I don't know if they had guns or not," said Lerma.. There may be more info out there than I've seen. In which case disregard the preceeding..
Let the written assault begin!
Eric