PALM BAY, Florida — An alert citizen who witnessed his neighbor’s home being burglarized immediately called 911 and a short time later the four suspects responsible were in custody.
Just after 10 a.m. Thursday, the witness called to report seeing four black males breaking into a house directly behind his home. The location of the burglary was determined to be in the 700 block of Rostock Circle NW.
Because of the citizen’s quick call, patrol officers were able to arrive within minutes and immediately saw the suspects in the area. When the suspects saw the officers, the suspects fled and the officers chased on foot. A perimeter was quickly established, a K-9 unit was deployed, and the Brevard County Sheriff’s STAR Unit responded to assist with the search.
The K9 tracked to an area where three of the suspects were hiding in a backyard. Two of those suspects fled on foot while the other was detained. The STAR unit maintained visual contact with the fleeing suspects to assist officers on the ground.
After a brief foot chase, the suspects were taken into custody. Further investigation revealed the identity of the fourth suspect who was also taken into custody at a home near the location of the burglary.
“One of the suspects was just arrested for a burglary last week that ended with a pursuit in Melbourne where an innocent civilian was injured as a result of his actions. Now less than a week later he is back out on the streets committing more crime,” said Chief Doug Muldoon. “Something needs to happen here where there is a consequence for their crimes. We keep arresting them and they keep costing the taxpayer money in manpower and resources. These criminals need to be locked up and kept out of our neighborhoods.”
Detectives with the General Crimes Unit are conducting follow up investigation.