A Florida sheriff announcing the arrest of a suspect in a number of break-ins says residents are welcome to take gun safety courses alongside his deputies.
On Thursday, Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson announced the arrest of Brandon J. Harris, 32.
Harris is suspected of several break-ins in Pace, Florida, according to the Pensacola News Journal.
He was arrested Wednesday after a homeowner fired his gun at an intruder, leading police to arrest Harris, who has been charged with attempted burglary with assault, resisting arrest, criminal mischief, attempted larceny and several other charges.
During a news conference, Johnson said he was not sure which homeowner in the area shot at Harris.
“I guess they think they did something wrong, which they did not. If somebody’s breaking into your house, you’re more than welcome to shoot them in Santa Rosa County. We prefer that you do, actually,” he said.
“So, whoever that was, you’re not in trouble, come see us. We have a gun safety class we put on every other Saturday,” Johnson said.
“If somebody’s breaking into your house, you’re more than welcome to shoot them in Santa Rosa County, and we prefer that you do actually — would save taxpayers money.” Sheriff Bob Johnson said. https://t.co/QdXgfToC5x
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“If you take that, you’ll shoot a lot better, and hopefully, you’ll save the taxpayers money,” Johnson said.
Later on, he said that “if somebody’s breaking into your house, you’ve got all the right in the world to defend yourself.”
Johnson said that deputies responded to a call at about 4:30 p.m.
“Probably 20 deputies get there … the dogs are out, and he’s jumping fences and breaking into houses as he goes,” Johnson said.
“One of the homeowners, he was breaking into their house, and they shot at him. So he continues to run, we finally corner him in a house that he broke into on Tom Sawyer, and we corner him in a bedroom,” Johnson said.
Santa Rosa County Sheriff Johnson describes the arrest of Brandon Harris in the Santa Villa neighborhood of Pace. A 17 time prior offender, Harris was trying to burglarize homes before being shot at by a homeowner. https://t.co/tiNSRTuhtK
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Johnson said Harris had multiple interactions with the law.
“You hear me talk about frequent flyers all the time. Our first interaction with this individual came when he was 13 years old. Since then, he’s had like 17 arrests,” Johnson said.
“We sent him to prison for six and a half years for home invasion, and he just can’t seem to get the picture of crime does not pay.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
