Two Men Arrested After Harrowing Break-in, Wild Chase, Final Standoff

Two Wauwatosa neighbors were left shaken Tuesday by a home burglary, and a Milwaukee woman was frightened out of her wits when one of the suspects tried to use her home as a hideout from police after a desperate foot chase.

According to police reports:

Wauwatosa and Milwaukee police collaborated to arrest two men after a Wauwatosa man interrupted the break-in at 11 a.m. at his home in the 1800 block of North 72^nd Street.

Before that encounter, though, the man's neighbor, a woman who was home alone, heard her doorbell ring and peeked out a window to see a strange man on her doorstep. She also noted a large white pickup truck was parked in front of her home.

She did not answer the door and thought the visitor had left, but after some minutes had passed, the doorbell rang again. Again, she did not answer.

Ten minutes later, she heard a loud noise from the side of her home and looked out a window to see the pickup truck now parked backward in her driveway. A moment later, a man ran from her neighbor's home and jumped into the passenger's seat, and the truck roared off.

Just stopping in at home

Meanwhile, the woman's next-door neighbor had been at work but decided to make a stop at his home.

The man told police that when he arrived at his house, an unknown man was standing beside his house and a white pickup truck was parked in his neighbor’s driveway. He approached the stranger and told him he lived there and wanted to know what he was doing on his property. He said the man responded, “Don't tell me you live here!”

The homeowner said it suddenly dawned on him that he was probably face-to-face with a burglar and that he might be in danger. He stepped away and around the corner of the house to call police. He then heard his screen door slam and looked back around the corner in time to see the man running to the truck.

The resident was able to get the license number of the truck and immediately called it in to police, who dispatched officers both to the home and to the surrounding streets.

Found, lost and found again

It so happened a Wauwatosa police officer was posted nearby in his squad car monitoring traffic at North 70th Street and West North Avenue. He had his eye on a large white pickup truck that had just pulled up on 70th and was signaling a turn onto North.

At nearly the same instant, the dispatch call came in about a white pickup truck involved in a burglary, the two men in the truck noticed the squad car, and instead of turning, they took off north up 70th Street.

The officer was not immediately in a good position for a safe pursuit, and by the time he was able to get onto 70th, the truck was already out of sight. Nevertheless, he was able to report the location of the suspects mere minutes after the burglary, and officers swarmed into the area – and across the city limits into Milwaukee.

It wasn't long before an undercover Tosa officer in an unmarked car spotted the truck in the parking lot of the Walgreen's store at North Avenue and North 45th Street. He called it in and pulled in to keep an eye on the truck.

Soon, the first marked squad car arrived, and one of the men was reported racing away on foot through residential yards.

A 56-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested in the Walgreen's parking lot without incident. But his much younger companion would not be taken nearly so easily.

A gunpoint faceoff

A Wauwatosa officer searching on foot spotted his quarry running through a back yard on Sherman Boulevard and ran parallel to him along the sidewalk. Passing the next house, he turned in to the driveway at the same time the suspect turned up it.

The officer had his gun drawn and, standing about 30 feet away, ordered the suspect to surrender. The man stood still but wouldn't raise his hands or go to the ground, the officer said.

Holding his gun on him, the officer slowly began to approach him, continuing to order him to surrender. When he was about 10 feet away, the suspect abruptly turned and ran, hoisting himself onto a fence.

The officer quickly holstered his gun and went for his Taser, hoping to zap the suspect and demobilize him before he got over the fence. But the suspect made it over.

The officer then saw his man start to climb back over the fence to get out of the yard, but apparently he changed his mind. Instead, he turned and ran inside the home on the property.

Last stand

Several officers had already closed in around the house in the 2300 block of North Sherman. One of them was approaching the front door of the home when he saw a woman inside the foyer.

She called out to the officer, “Someone just ran into my house!” So upset she had trouble unlatching her own door, she came out shaking and told officers she had never seen this man before.

In moments, enough Tosa and Milwaukee officers were on hand to make escape impossible. But they were taking no chances. No weapon had yet been shown by the suspect in any encounter, but that didn't mean he didn't have one or might find one inside the house. They remained outside and called him out.

Tosa officers shouted over and over for the man to come out of the house with his hands up. The suspect raised a shade and looked out at them from a second-story window, but despite seeing what he was up against, he put the shade back down and stayed holed up.

A Milwaukee officer produced a bullhorn and the suspect was lectured loudly and in no uncertain terms that he was completely surrounded and could not escape. He was again advised to surrender. He still did not.

The last announcement was this: If you don't come out, a police dog is coming in. The force of officers waited. They got no response. So, true to their word, a Milwaukee police tactical squad entered the house in company with a trained K9 takedown dog.

Very shortly, a 23-year-old Milwaukee man was brought out of the home in handcuffs.

Forgotten evidence

Both suspects would initially deny they were involved in any burglary, and curiously, the large number of items taken from the Tosa home were not found in their truck. Police could place the men and their truck at the scene of a burglary, but where was the evidence they had done it?

Back on 72nd Street, police had found that a screen had been removed from a window and a box fan that had been behind the screen and holding up the window sash had been pushed into the master bedroom of the victim's home.

The owner found that he was missing a great deal of valuable property, including all his stereo equipment, a large television, a DVD player and two laptop computers. He also noted one small item gone, probably among the least significant pieces of property taken: his Seagate external hard drive.

When the older suspect was searched in the Walgreen's parking lot, police found in his pocket one Seagate external hard drive. The victim identified it as his.