The elderly homeowner, accidentally killed by police responding to a break-in at his suburban Denver home, had shot a naked home intruder who was trying to drown his grandson.

Richard 'Gary' Black, 73, a decorated Vietnam war hero, opened fire after he found the stranger trying to drown the 11-year-old boy in the bathtub. The home invader, who has not been identified, died at the scene.

Moments later police, responding to a 911 call, turned up and shot dead Black after mistaking him for the intruder.

'This is a horror movie scenario,' said Siddhartha Rathod, an attorney representing Black's family, told the Denver Post.