Resident catches alleged burglar in act, holds suspect at gunpoint until deputy arrives

Fortunate circumstances allowed a Patterson area man to catch a suspect allegedly breaking into his truck and hold the suspect at gunpoint until authorities arrived.

A juvenile male, 14, of Patterson, was arrested at 4:05 a.m. Sunday in connection with the incident on charges of vehicle burglary, possession of a stolen firearm, illegal carrying of a weapon, ungovernable juvenile, curfew violation, resisting an officer by false information, resisting by force and unlawful possession of tobacco by a person under 18, St. Mary Parish Sheriff Scott Anslum said in a news release.

Harris DeHart, who lives on Daphine Street outside of the Patterson city limits, said he was getting ready to leave on a trip early Sunday. His wife was awake around 3 a.m. watching TV and saw green lights start blinking on the monitor for the family’s security camera system, which the family had just gotten about a month earlier. DeHart and his wife decided to get the camera system after learning of recent burglaries occurring in the area.

His wife saw movement on the screen and noticed people breaking into DeHart's truck. She woke up DeHart and called 911.

“I grabbed my gun, and I went and checked on my oldest son to make sure it wasn’t him outside. He was in his room sleeping,” DeHart said.

After checking on his son, DeHart went to the front door. His wife disarmed the alarm system, and DeHart ran out the front door from behind the suspect and caught him in the truck, he said.

“I put my gun on him and made him get to the ground,” DeHart said. “I asked him if he had any weapons or anything. He said no, which that was a lie.”

Sheriff’s Office Spokeswoman Detective Whytley Jones confirmed that the suspect was in possession of a .22-caliber revolver at the time of his arrest.

When DeHart first approached the suspect and told him to get on the ground, “he kind of took off running towards me,” DeHart said.

“I have a laser on my pistol. And when I put my laser on him, then he went down to the ground. I don’t know if he couldn’t see my pistol at first, but it didn’t take him long to get on the ground when he’d seen that laser,” DeHart said.

DeHart continued to hold the suspect at gunpoint until a sheriff’s deputy arrived. When the suspect saw the sheriff’s vehicle arrive, he started reaching into his pocket and tried to take a gun out of his pocket and throw it, DeHart said.

The gun the suspect had was allegedly stolen from one of DeHart’s neighbors, DeHart said.

“I kind of just held him down, held his arms and everything. And the cop ran over and gave me a hand,” he said.

DeHart said another suspect allegedly got away.

“We didn’t even realize that there was a second person at first, not until after when the guy told me that there was another guy with him,” DeHart said.

Jones said the incident is still under investigation but didn’t have any information on a second suspect.

DeHart believes he left his truck unlocked because he had been in and out of the vehicle getting ready to leave at 4 a.m. Sunday.

“From the time they (the suspects) got in there and the time I got out my house (was) probably within a minute, maybe a minute and a half. It was really quick,” he said.

“I thank God that he didn’t actually have the pistol in his hand,” DeHart said. “It wouldn’t have been the same outcome for sure.”

A sheriff’s news release stated that a deputy patrolling the area of Patterson responded to Daphine Street for a vehicle burglary in progress. The deputy made contact with the victim and the juvenile suspect outside of the home. The deputy learned that the victim caught the juvenile male inside of his vehicle, the release said.

Through the investigation, the deputy found evidence that the juvenile was in possession of a stolen firearm and tobacco. While placing the juvenile in handcuffs, the juvenile pulled away forcefully and made attempts to provide a false name and date of birth, the sheriff's release stated. The juvenile was released to his guardian pending juvenile court proceedings.