Police: Karate student decks intruder in her apartment

FRESNO, Calif. >> A California man got an early morning beat down after being pummeled by a karate student who found him drunk in her bathroom.

Jannine Ramirez had just won a karate competition when she arrived at her Fresno apartment early Sunday and heard someone in the bathroom. Ramirez, 20, kicked down her bathroom door, then kicked the intruder through a shower door.

She continued with an onslaught of kicks and punches until Wilberto Zapata, 18, was outside her apartment.

"We didn't recognize him," Ramirez said. "Me and my mom live in the apartment, so no guy whatsoever should be in there."

Zapata recently moved into the apartment complex and mistakenly went into the wrong apartment unit, police told the Fresno Bee.

Ramirez has a yellow belt — a step above beginner — and expects to be promoted to orange belt next month at during a competition in Fresno

She has been a karate and Muay Thai kick-boxing student for a year. Saturday was her first competition.

"I was actually more nervous in the competition than I was trying to get this intruder out of my house," said Ramirez, who attends Fresno City College and plans to study physical therapy at Fresno State University. "I literally kicked him all the way through my house."

Police said Zapata was drunk and thought he had broken into his own apartment. He was cited for unlawful entry into a home and released. A phone listing for Zapata could not be found.

Ramirez has no regrets.

"I had to protect my mom and protect myself and get this intruder out of my house," she said. "He sort of did deserve it. If he hadn't broken into my house, it wouldn't have happened."