Man, 18, Arrested for Hitting Woman with Shovel During Temecula Home Invasion

A man— allegedly under the influence of drugs— struck a woman over the head early Saturday with a folding shovel when she awoke during a botched break-in at a Temecula home, police report. 

Sheriff's deputies were dispatched at 5:14 a.m. to the 44800 block of Tehachapi Pass about an attempted burglary. Dispatchers radioed the deputies a second time about another attempted break-in nearby, Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Kevin McDonald said.

A woman in the second home was asleep when she awoke to find a man in her bedroom and called out, according to the sergeant. He was later identified as Gabriel Jimenez Ramirez, 18, of Perris.

"In this case, the female victim was asleep in her bedroom when she woke up and found a male suspect standing in the room," McDonald said in a statement.  "She called out to him and the male suspect hit her in the head with a folding shovel and ran from the residence."

The woman declined medical treatment as she only suffered what McDonald called superficial injuries.

Deputies set up a perimeter and found Ramirez, whom they arrested. Ramirez was booked for suspicion of two counts of attempted burglary, one count of assault with a deadly weapon and being under the influence of a controlled substance, McDonald said.

— City News Service contributed to this report.