Updated

An 80-year-old man says he shot and killed a fleeing woman whom he had caught burglarizing his home, despite her plea that she was pregnant.

"She says, 'Don't shoot me, I'm pregnant — I'm going to have a baby,' and I shot her anyway," Tom Greer told KNBC-TV.

Greer said he walked in on the woman and a man who had broken into his house in Long Beach on Tuesday night.

The pair tackled him, Greer said, then continued ransacking the house, breaking into a safe while he watched.

He said he was able to get to his gun, a .22-caliber revolver, and the pair ran when he showed it to them.

He said he tried to shoot both of them but was only able to hit the woman.

"The lady didn't run as fast as the man, so I shot her in the back twice," Greer said. "She's dead ... but he got away."

He spoke to the TV station outside his house while wearing a sling for a shoulder injury he suffered in the struggle.

Deputy Police Chief David Hendricks confirmed at a news conference Wednesday that the man shot and killed the woman after apparently interrupting a crime in progress. It was not immediately clear whether any charges would be filed against Greer. Police planned to hold another news conference Thursday evening.

The Los Angeles County coroner was performing an autopsy and would confirm if the woman was pregnant, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reported.