When checking on your empty rental property, you don’t want to hear a television playing inside.
So a Florida homeowner entered his property cautiously Tuesday afternoon, finding it vandalized as he walked toward the sound in the back bedroom. According to Jacksonville police, that’s where he found 19-year-old Anthony Deshawn Burnem.
The property owner told News4Jax, “I took out my gun and I said, ‘Just don't move.’ I was trying to call 911 with the one hand with my phone, it wouldn’t do it.” At that point, fearing for his life because he didn’t know if there was an accomplice in the house, he shot the intruder. The owner held the suspect until police arrived and Burnem was transported to the hospital. A neighbor had noticed the intruder earlier, saying, “He had been walking around and knocking on different doors, and my daughter had been here. It's scary.” Investigators say Burnem has similar trespassing arrests on his record.
