NJ homeowner kills someone he thought was an intruder (it was his tenant)

🚨Prosecutors say Amr Ali tried to enter a Lodi home through the door and window

🚨The homeowner shot him when he made it inside holding a 'spear-like object'

🚨The distraught homeowner said he and Ali barely knew each other

LODI — A homeowner fatally shot his basement tenant in what appears to be a tragic case of mistaken identity.

Authorities said the homeowner believed Amr Ali, 33, was an armed intruder trying to break in.

Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Ali tried to forcefully enter the home on Garibaldi Avenue through the front door using "a spear-like object." 

When that attempt failed, Ali broke a window and was confronted by the homeowner and two relatives. The homeowner fired three times, striking Ali once, according to Musella.

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No arguments or disputes

Prosecutors did not identify the homeowner or say whether they knew why the tenant was trying to break into the home.

The tearful homeowner told ABC 7 Eyewitness News that Ali had recently begun renting out the basement. They had not had any arguments or run-ins but they barely knew each other, he said.

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