Colorado Springs police arrested two suspected burglars this afternoon after an officer caught one in the garage of a northeast-side home and fired a shot at him, police spokesman Lt. David Whitlock said.

The burglar was not hit by the officer’s shot. Police have not said if the suspects, whose names and ages were not released, were armed.

Police have not identified the officer who fired the shot. The officer has been placed on leave while the shooting is investigated by the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

Whitlock said a neighbor called police around 2 p.m. to report seeing two men in the house at 3370 Beechwood Ct.  and believed they might have broken in. When officers arrived, he said, they confronted one of the men in the garage, where the shot was fired.

Whitlock did not say why the officer fired or where the bullet lodged. The second man was detained in the house, police said.

Whitlock said no one was home at the time of the burglary and shooting. According to El Paso Couty assessor’s records, the owner of the home near Woodmen Road and Union Boulevard is John R. and Pamala K. Riggen.

The last shooting involving a Colorado Springs Police officer was Dec. 27 when officers responded to a disturbance outside the 13 Pure nightclub on Pikes Peak Avenue. One man was wounded by a shot fired by an officer.

Tiffany Tucker unpacks her belongings at her new home that she and her husband bought. The home that they bought was in foreclosure. Tuesday, January 12, 2009. Photo by JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE

Jerilee Bennett