Sandy MaloneAsheboro, NC – A North Carolina man caught three teenagers who had burglarized his parents’ home on Sunday, and held them at gunpoint until police arrived (video below).
Stephen Routh told police that a neighbor called him and reported strange activity on his parents’ property in Asheboro on Feb. 3, the Daily Mail reported.
About three minutes after Routh pulled up at the house, the burglars tried to leave through the back door.
So Routh pulled out a gun and ordered them to the ground.
“I had the gun and they were coming out, and as soon as they saw the big gun pointed at them, their hands went up,” he told WGHP.
The video, filmed by a witness, showed Routh pointing his weapon in the direction of the 14, 15, and 17 year old boys as he talked on the phone to a police dispatcher.
Routh kept the group at gunpoint on the ground until police arrived on the scene, WGHP reported.
“The policeman said it best – they’re lucky I didn’t shoot them. Because I had every right to put a bullet in somebody,” he said.
The angry man said his parents’ house was trashed, with things smashed on the floor and every cabinet dumped.
“It is a terrible mess — all the drawers are screwed, cabinets drawers have been open, stuff thrown out, papers everywhere,” Routh said.
The suspect didn’t take anything, but simply vandalized the property, WGHP reported.
But Routh said the situation could have easily gone a totally different way.
He said he hoped something was learned from it.
“There have been too many instances lately of home invasions and these like this where they get caught. And some people have been shot and killed especially those home invasions… People are not taking this mess anymore,” Routh said.
Police detained all three juveniles. They called the parents of the 14- and 15-year-old boys and took the 17 year old into custody, the Daily Mail reported.
Watch Routh capture the burglars in the video below: