TAHOE CITY, Calif. (AP) - A bear blamed for a string of home break-ins at Lake Tahoe was fatally shot after confronting an officer late Friday night.

El Dorado County sheriff's Sgt. Don Atkinson says a deputy shot the 350- to 400-pound male black bear as the animal exited a home south of Meeks Bay and moved toward him.

The bear died immediately.

The deputy, whose name wasn't released, initially responded Friday night to a residential burglar alarm set off by the bear in the same area on Tahoe's west shore.

Atkinson says the deputy, accompanied by a California State Parks law enforcement officer, checked other nearby homes and found the bear at a home with a smashed front door.

He says an investigation revealed the bear had ransacked other homes in the area over the past several months and caused significant property damage.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-07-26-08 2006EDT