By John Boch via TTAG and republished with permission
Volusia County Sheriff’s deputies rescued a family, including a seven-year-old girl hiding in her bedroom, from a trio of armed, violent home invaders Saturday night in Deltona, Florida. Now, the department has released dramatic bodycam footage from the responding officers.
The video and circumstances show why gun owners should carry at home just as they do when they’re out in public.
The three alleged bad boys came to the home armed to the teeth. Unfortunately for them, a seven-year-old girl in the home heard the commotion as the trio of thugs stormed into the home. She hid in her bedroom and called 9-1-1.
Meanwhile, the bad guys tied up four adult family members and took them into the garage. What the bad guys didn’t know: responding deputies had arrived to rescue the family and apprehend the bad guys (who are probably extremely happy they don’t live in Broward County).
It was a classic cops and robbers situation.
The crying seven-year-old girl certainly made the video quite dramatic. Once the deputies found her hiding under a chair in her bedroom, she begged the officers to save her family and to be reunited with them.
The Daytona Beach News Journal reported on the incident:
Three armed suspects, including one with a rifle, broke into the Deltona home in the 1400 block of Eden Drive at 10:05 p.m. Saturday and tied up a family while a small child hid in a bedroom, Volusia County sheriff’s officials said.
Investigators do not believe the home invasion was random. The victims suffered minor injuries in the incident, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Laura Williams.
When deputies got to the scene, the suspects tried to run but were caught by deputies who had the home surrounded, Williams said.
Two suspects, Jermaine Oliver, 30, and Derrick Mathis, were each was charged with home invasion robbery with a firearm, five counts of kidnapping with a firearm, one count of kidnapping of a child under 13 with a firearm, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
A third suspect, John Anderson, 39, was charged with principal to home invasion robbery with a firearm, five counts of principal to kidnapping whole armed with a firearm, and one count of principal to kidnapping of a child under 13 with a firearm.
All three were being held Sunday at the Volusia County Branch Jail, Williams said.
The bad guys made entry by confronting two of the residents at gunpoint in their garage while the overhead door was open.
Here at TTAG, we have encouraged gun owners to remain armed in their homes in stories here, here, here and here to list a few. After all, bad guys don’t make appointments for when and where they will attack.