http://www.thestate.com/mld/state/news/local/2981657.htm
Posted on Tue, Apr. 02, 2002
Homeowner helped break robbery ring, Richland sheriff says By LORA HINES
Staff Writer

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott is crediting a Dentsville man with
helping his agency stop a home invasion ring that targeted elderly
neighbors.

Homeowner Bobby Drum, 68, shot a man who tried to break into his home at
7651 Parkview Drive on March 20. As a result, a little later that night,
detectives arrested the man who they say tried to rob Drum and his wife.

They also have charged four other teen-agers who they say preyed on
victims who they thought couldn’t fight back, Lott said.

“Mr. Drum is a hero,” Lott said. “He probably not only saved his wife
and his life, but the lives of other people as well. If (Jack Maurice
Austin) had not been shot by Mr. Drum, they still would be doing” home
invasions.

Detectives arrested Austin, 18, 7244 Claudia Drive, shortly after they
say he tried to break into Drum’s home. Austin called for help and told
deputies he had been shot in the neck as he was walking toward a
friend’s home less than half a mile away from the Drums’ home.

On Friday, detectives also charged Eddie Washington, 17, 936E.
Campanella Drive; Jason David Evans, 17, 3843 June Drive; Curtis Walton
Jr., 18, 3916 Davies Drive; and Bryan Darnell Lake, 18, 7317 Highview
Drive.
Washington and Lake are accused of being with Austin at the Drums’ home,
Lott said. Washington, Evans, Walton and Austin have been charged with
the March 11 robbery of Arlo Gilliam, 65, of 7012 Frandal Ave.

Gilliam, who said he has been ill much of this year, said he opened his
door the night of March 11 because he thought his son had come over to
help take care of him.

“I opened the door, and (a man) put a gun to my stomach and pushed me
against the door,” Gilliam said. “He told me to lay down on my couch
face-first, and I did it.”

The man then yelled something, and several other people came inside the
home, Gilliam said. The group ransacked Gilliam’s bedroom and took five
guns before leaving, he said.
“They didn’t hurt me,” Gilliam said. “I was scared for myself.”

On March 20, Drum shot someone who was trying to enter his house through
a screen door, police said. Drum went to a back bedroom, got his Glock 9
mm handgun and fired a shot that grazed the intruder’s neck, police
said.

Detectives are checking to see whether the group might be connected to
other recent robberies, including one that happened earlier this year in
Columbia, Lott said.

Drum and his wife, Dorothy, 64, have declined to discuss what happened.

“(Drum) was quite upset at what he had to do,” Lott said. “He’s the type
of person who doesn’t even like to hunt because he doesn’t want to hurt
anything.”

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