73-Year-Old Detains Burglary Suspect With BB Gun

DELTONA, Florida -- It was only a BB-gun. But for a 73-year-old crime victim, it was good enough to get the job done.

It was about 8:45 p.m. on Wednesday when the victim, who lives at a residence on East Dana Drive in Deltona, Florida, looked outside and saw a stranger get into his pickup truck. 

First, the victim grabbed his BB-gun and made sure he kept an eye on the suspect from the safety of his porch.  Then he called the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office. “There’s a man in my truck,” the victim told the Sheriff’s Office telecommunicator on the other end of the 911 line. “You better get somebody or I’ll shoot him right through the windshield.” When the telecommunicator assured the man that deputies were on their way, the victim replied: “You better get ‘em or I’ll let him have it right through the windshield.”

After threatening the second time to shoot the suspect, the telecommunicator warned the victim about making threats on a recorded line and then told the man not to make contact with the suspect and just wait for deputies to arrive. “O.K., I’m waiting right here,” the victim said.  But about six seconds later, the victim can be heard getting into a verbal confrontation with the suspect and ordering him to stay where he was, turn around and get up against the wall. “I’ll shoot you, really,” the armed victim told the suspect. “I don’t give a damn if I shoot you dead.”

Moments later, deputies arrived at the scene and the telecommunicator directed the victim to put down his weapon. “I’m going to put this away,” the victim assured the telecommunicator. Then he proceeded to tell him that it wasn’t even loaded. 

Volusia County Sheriff's Deputies arrested 38-year-old Walter Medina and charged him with burglary and petty theft.  Deputies say that Medina admitted to entering the pickup truck to look for anything of value to steal.  He was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach on $2,000 bond.