Real life story of a citizen’s arrest by a man at his home. Further proof that the presence of firearms in and of itself does not result in people being shot and killed.

- Mike

Man trying doors of vehicles is captured
http://www.starbanner.com/articles/breaking_news/177.shtml
ROBERT ARRIETA

Staff Writer

OCALA ? An apparent would-be burglar tried to open the wrong man’s vehicles at the wrong time.

On Wednesday night, Ocala police arrested Rodrick V. Snow, 35, on attempted burglary charges. A licensed arms dealer caught him trying to open the doors of two vehicles, according to a police report.

Donald H. Wolff, 55, had just finished locking his car and was on his way back inside his house at 951 S.E. 19th St. when he noticed Snow walking by.

As Wolff watched quietly from the shadows on his deck, Snow tried to open the driver-side door to an Isuzu truck. Finding it locked, Snow walked around the to the other side and tried that door but found it locked as well. Parked next to the truck was a red Pontiac. Wolff said Snow tried to open it, too.

While Snow was trying the doors of the Pontiac, Wolff decided to put a stop to whatever his intentions might have been.

With a permit to carry a concealed weapon and a .40-caliber handgun to go with it, Wolff approached Snow and ordered him to stay where he was and to get on the ground.

“I saw him walking and watched him try the doors to the vehicles,” Wolff said. “After he tried one car and went to the other, that’s when I decided it was time to go ask some questions.”

When Snow was on the ground, Wolff said he holstered his gun and told his wife to call the police.

“In my business and, of course, for my own enjoyment, I carry a gun,” Wolff said. “I don’t carry it all the time, but in this incident I happened to have it on me. I put it away as soon as I had him down. I figured I could handle him from there. I didn’t tell him that though. He just assumed I still had the gun on him.”

According to police reports, Snow said a friend, who was driving a black pickup truck, had dropped him off at a nearby drug store and was supposed to come back for him.

Snow said his friend never returned and he knew the friend lived close by, so he went to search for him on foot.

The reason Snow was looking in the cars, he told police, was because he thought one of them was his friend’s and he was trying to verify that.

Snow was arrested for attempted burglary and was held at Marion County Jail on a $5,000 bond.

Robert Arrieta covers public safety issues and can be reached at [email protected] or 867-4115.