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Homeowner said he used a .22-caliber rifle to hold youth he caught
stealing.
July 08, 2003
By Sue Weibezahl and Maureen Nolan
Staff writers

At about 5 a.m. Monday, Syracuse homeowner Richard Resch was making his
routine safety check of his property through a second-floor window when
he saw a man in the driveway hefting a speaker from a public address
system he stores in the garage.

Further back in the yard in the 800 block of Avery Avenue, a second man
was lifting another speaker over the back fence.

Resch, 34, said he was in a spare bedroom, where he keeps his guns
locked up, about to put on the uniform he wears to work as a
state-licensed security officer. Resch said he grabbed his .22-caliber
rifle, pointed it out the window and ordered the man nearest the house
to freeze or get shot.

He doesn’t remember his exact words, but they worked pretty well.

“And he could see me in the window with a gun pointed at him,” Resch
said.

The man near the fence dropped the speaker and ran off into the trees
that fringe Resch’s property. The man nearest the house dropped the
speaker he carried and froze, Resch said.

The man stayed put until Resch
could scramble downstairs and into the driveway, where he held him at
gunpoint until police arrived.

Resch said he ordered the man to get on his knees, lace his fingers
behind his head and not move.

“Clear, concise commands is part of our training,” said Resch, who is
hoping to land a job as a police officer.

He said it took maybe two or three minutes for police to arrive but it
seemed longer. He said he asked the suspect his name and where he was
from, but he didn’t necessarily believe the answers.

When police arrived, Kenneth D. Williams, 16, of 285 county Route 29,
Oswego, was on his knees with his hands on top of his head, kneeling by
the speaker, said Sgt. Tom Connellan of the Syracuse Police Department.

Williams reportedly disclosed the identity of the other suspect. Police
found that one – a 15-year-old – at the home of relatives nearby less
than an hour after the incident. That suspect’s identity was withheld
because of his age.

Both teens were charged with felony counts of burglary and petit
larceny, Connellan said.

Resch was not charged because the type of gun he used does not require a
permit, said Connellan. It is unusual for a citizen to apprehend a
suspect at gunpoint, and it isn’t necessarily the best thing to do, he
said.

“If people pull a gun on someone like that, and they are not properly
trained, they could end up losing the gun, and the gun could be used on
them,” he said.

People have every right to protect themselves in their homes, but
sometimes the best thing to do is to be a good observer, get the details
and call the police, Connellan said.

Resch said his security training enabled him to handle the situation,
and he thinks the kids were lucky he has that background.

“Had it been somebody without training, the kid might have been shot.
People have itchy trigger fingers,” Resch said.

Police are still investigating to determine if the youths may be
involved in several other garage larcenies that have been reported on
the city’s West Side in recent weeks. Anyone with information can call
detectives at 442-5222.

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