Palm Bay, Florida

From December 2, 2009 WFTV channel 9:

PALM BAY, Fla. — Some accused teen burglars are lucky to be alive, police say, after they broke into a Brevard County house whose homeowner had guns. Investigators say they are working to find out if the teenagers are responsible for any of the dozens of home break-ins plaguing Palm Bay in the past few weeks.

The homeowner told Eyewitness News the suspects are his son’s friends.

Officers said the suspects broke into the house on Sanger Street in Palm Bay (see map) with a neighbor sitting right outside watching their every move. Homeowner Rodney Halfhide says he was taking a nap in his bedroom when he got the rude awakening around 10:00am Wednesday morning.

“The screen popped out then I heard the blinds move and that was it, she was inside the house. I was like, ‘What?’” he described.

Halfhide immediately grabbed his handgun next to his bed and chased the girl out the back door of his house. Then, Halfhide says, she and another teenager ran down the street. Halfhide said he knew he was within his right to shoot, but didn’t.

“The gun scared them away and they ran. They ran fast,” he said.

Officers in the area immediately recognized the description of the pair as two teenagers recently suspended from Bayside High School. Whell Clerisier and Laquarious Dorsey were found at a house around the block and arrested.