Miami Beach Homeowner Surprises Potential Criminal
MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) - The tables were turned on a potential criminal Monday night on Miami Beach. The homeowner surprised him at gun point in the driveway of his home, and a surveillance camera captured the whole thing.
"I'm hearing my friends say you're crazy. That's a bold move. No. I think we have a right as citizens to protect our home." Gabriel Ruz said.
In the surveillance video you see Ruz standing in his driveway in his underwear with a glock trained on a stranger.
"I don't know what he was up to and quite honestly I really don't care what he was up to. This is my house I really don't want him near here." Ruz explained.
Wanting to protect his family he purchased a gun, installed cameras and motion detector.
"What that does is anybody that approaches the house within four feet it notifies us by text and email in a second actually. My biggest concern was somebody ambushing her in the house," Ruz explaining how his security system works.
Just before midnight the sensor went off and Ruz swooped into action, telling his wife to call the police before he went downstairs.
"Basically [I] went out the front of the house, around the back over here. And turned on the laser as I was coming down the hallway and I approached and said 'freeze get on the ground.' He went to reach over for something and I yelled at him again. At that point I only had a shot at his head. I knew if I would have done that I would have had big problems," explained Ruz.
The 'big problems' Ruz was referencing is Florida's Stand Your Ground law. The law allows residents to meet force with force if they feel threatened. It's an element being argued in front of the national media right now in the George Zimmerman trial in Sanford. Zimmerman, an ex-neighborhood watch volunteer, shot and killed unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin.
"The Zimmerman trial was on my mind. I don't want to end up like that. It's a very split second you have to make a decision. Life or death?" Ruz said. A fine-line and thankfully this all ended well. "He stopped he complied. He laid down immediately," said Ruz.
Police arrived quickly and arrested Lucas Queiroz for drug possession and trespassing. When questioned by the cops, they said that Queiroz admitted to hiding behind the car to roll a joint. The 23-year-old simply picked an awful place to do it.
Up until the incident, having a gun in the Ruz house was controversial. Sabrina, Ruz's wife, never cared for weapons.
"I was always there is enough violence in the world. I don't want to add to it." Sabrina said.
After the night though, she changed her mind.
"All I wished was that I had a gun in my hand to protect myself. Because I didn't know if they were in the house, outside? I didn't know what was going on with him," said Sabrina.
