Elected Official Grabs His Gun and Confronts Masked Potential Burglar Trying to Break Into His Business
One Pennsylvania official used a combination of surveillance technology and the Second Amendment to prevent a suspicious man from breaking into a charity he operates.
Early Saturday, an alert from the doorbell camera of the charity All You Can Inc. showed Ralph Rodriguez that there was a man in a mask acting suspiciously outside of the charity, according to Penn Live.
Rodriguez and his wife made the five-minute trip to the charity where at about 1:15 a.m., he found the man.
When Ralph Rodriguez saw a masked man appear on the doorbell camera of his nonprofit charity’s office in Harrisburg early Saturday, the city councilman and his wife rushed five minutes down the road to confront him.@PennLive https://t.co/MHm85kbm7Y
— Jonathan Bergmueller (@jonpberg) January 29, 2023
Rodriguez, who has a concealed carry permit, ordered the man to get on the ground as he held his gun in his hand.
The man ignored the command, instead asking Rodriguez whether anyone was inside.
Eventually, Rodriguez told the man to go, which he did. No shots were fired in the incident, after which Rodriguez called the police.
Police were unable to discern which way the man went after leaving Rodriguez.
Rodriguez, who is a member of the Harrisburg City Council, said that the man did not appear to be what he considered the average burglar looking for a quick score and that his actions included putting a hand over the outside camera to shield himself.
“It startled me. I told my family it was a very serious emergency, and that daddy has to go,” Rodriguez said.
“I already took an oath to defend the constitution and protect the residents of Harrisburg, but it means so much more when I woke up today. I might not have come home last night,” he said later Saturday.
Rodriguez took to Facebook to explain the incident.
“Last night at approx 1:15-1:20 am ish, I was the target of an attempted Burglary/Robbery. What they didn’t know was, I’m not the average public figure. I was able to catch the perpetrator red handed attempting to get inside of our building. As he wouldn’t lay down on command, and continued to reach for something, I left distance between us in case there was a need to defend my life,” he wrote.
“After he repeated ‘Is anyone in there’ three times he took off quick into the darkness. I managed to get a decent photo of his face from the camera, and you can hear his voice in the video.
“These forms of intimidation will not stop me from serving the residents of Harrisburg. In fact, it compels me to do more. Everyone is OK, but I’m very concerned for our residents when I know individuals like this are on the loose,” he concluded.
Police are investigating the incident, according to WHP-TV.
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