BURIEN - Four would-be teenage burglars had a bad day on Thursday.

First, the owner of the house they were burglarizing came home and chased them out of his house at gunpoint. Then two of the burglars were caught by police within minutes. Finally, the last two were caught after the area was flooded with King County sheriff's deputies, Burien officers and a police chopper.

The incident began when a man returned to his home in the 16400 block of Ambaum Boulevard South after walking his dog and found a burglar in his kitchen.

As the suspect ran for the front door, he was joined by his three other suspects coming from various areas of the house. The homeowner grabbed his handgun and gave chase.

A passer-by saw the fleeing suspects and pointed out the direction they fled to the homeowner and arriving deputies. Plain-clothes detectives coming into the area spotted two of the four and they were promptly arrested.

During the search for the remaining suspects, the Sheriff's Office received a call from a man in Mount Vernon who said his teenage son had just called him and breathlessly related: "The cops are looking for me ... and they've got a helicopter."

Finally, workers at a nearby townhouse spotted the last two suspects skulking along a fence line. Deputies converged and took them into custody without incident.

The suspects, ages 14, 14, 16, and 17, were from Burien, Mill Creek, and Seattle. All were booked into the Youth Service Center for investigation of burglary.