Rodriguez takes aim to foil break-in
Parish leader greets burglar with shotgun
Thursday February 05, 2004
By Steve Cannizaro
St. Bernard/Plaquemines bureau
St. Bernard Parish President Henry "Junior" Rodriguez, the victim of two recent burglaries at a house he has been renovating for years near his home, decided he was going to be ready to act in case of a third break-in.
Keeping a loaded shotgun near his bed, his chance came early Saturday.
Rodriguez, awakened at 4:30 a.m. by an alarm tripped by a motion detector he'd put in the vacant house, confronted a man he recognized carrying a vacuum cleaner out of the house.
When the man threw the vacuum at Rodriguez and fled, the parish president fired one shotgun blast into the ground and another into the air, according to a police report of the incident.
Rodriguez, who took office as parish president in mid-January, said Wednesday that he wasn't hit by the vacuum and that the man got away because Rodriguez wasn't willing to shoot him.
"I don't know if he meant to hit me (with the vacuum cleaner) or was distracting me," Rodriguez said. "I had to sidestep it. I shot into the ground as he was running. I just wanted to scare him. I didn't want hurt him."
Rodriguez, who said he flashed a light at the man as he was coming out of the house and got a good look at him, told sheriff's deputies he was
Rodney Sanchez, 48, who lives near Rodriguez on Bayou Road at Verret in eastern St. Bernard Parish.
"I've known him since he was a kid," Rodriguez said.
An arrest warrant on a charge of simple burglary has been issued for Sanchez, 3762 Bayou Road, said Maj. John Doran, Sheriff's Office chief of detectives. Sanchez has a record of 14 felony arrests and six convictions, Doran said.
Doran also said Rodriguez didn't break any law when he fired the shotgun "as far as we are concerned." Doran said, "You have every right to defend yourself" during a home burglary, adding that no shots were fired at the fleeing man.
Rodriguez, 68, said the house he's renovating has been burglarized twice in recent weeks, with "substantial amounts" of tools stolen.
There was little but the vacuum left in the house "because they wiped me out," Rodriguez said.
He said he put up the monitoring equipment in case of more trouble. He said that he has lived in Verret since the 1940s and that the two break-ins were the first times he's been burglarized.
When the alarm went off early Saturday, he said he went to the house and "could hear someone moving in there." Rodriguez said he hid outside, waiting for the intruder to emerge.
"He came out the door, backing up, carrying the wet vac, and he closed the door behind him," Rodriguez said of the burglar. "When he turned around, I put a light on him while holding the shotgun."
The parish president, known for his sense of humor, said, "I told him, 'Good morning. . . . You shopping early this morning.' "
Rodriguez said the man asked him not to shoot him "and I told him I wouldn't."
But when he told the man to sit down and wait for sheriff's deputies to arrive, the man threw the vacuum cleaner at him and ran, Rodriguez said.
He said he fired the two shots but the man kept running. Sheriff's deputies went to Sanchez's home but haven't been able to find him, Doran said.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-1/107596807716420.xml
Parish leader greets burglar with shotgun
Thursday February 05, 2004
By Steve Cannizaro
St. Bernard/Plaquemines bureau
St. Bernard Parish President Henry "Junior" Rodriguez, the victim of two recent burglaries at a house he has been renovating for years near his home, decided he was going to be ready to act in case of a third break-in.
Keeping a loaded shotgun near his bed, his chance came early Saturday.
Rodriguez, awakened at 4:30 a.m. by an alarm tripped by a motion detector he'd put in the vacant house, confronted a man he recognized carrying a vacuum cleaner out of the house.
When the man threw the vacuum at Rodriguez and fled, the parish president fired one shotgun blast into the ground and another into the air, according to a police report of the incident.
Rodriguez, who took office as parish president in mid-January, said Wednesday that he wasn't hit by the vacuum and that the man got away because Rodriguez wasn't willing to shoot him.
"I don't know if he meant to hit me (with the vacuum cleaner) or was distracting me," Rodriguez said. "I had to sidestep it. I shot into the ground as he was running. I just wanted to scare him. I didn't want hurt him."
Rodriguez, who said he flashed a light at the man as he was coming out of the house and got a good look at him, told sheriff's deputies he was
Rodney Sanchez, 48, who lives near Rodriguez on Bayou Road at Verret in eastern St. Bernard Parish.
"I've known him since he was a kid," Rodriguez said.
An arrest warrant on a charge of simple burglary has been issued for Sanchez, 3762 Bayou Road, said Maj. John Doran, Sheriff's Office chief of detectives. Sanchez has a record of 14 felony arrests and six convictions, Doran said.
Doran also said Rodriguez didn't break any law when he fired the shotgun "as far as we are concerned." Doran said, "You have every right to defend yourself" during a home burglary, adding that no shots were fired at the fleeing man.
Rodriguez, 68, said the house he's renovating has been burglarized twice in recent weeks, with "substantial amounts" of tools stolen.
There was little but the vacuum left in the house "because they wiped me out," Rodriguez said.
He said he put up the monitoring equipment in case of more trouble. He said that he has lived in Verret since the 1940s and that the two break-ins were the first times he's been burglarized.
When the alarm went off early Saturday, he said he went to the house and "could hear someone moving in there." Rodriguez said he hid outside, waiting for the intruder to emerge.
"He came out the door, backing up, carrying the wet vac, and he closed the door behind him," Rodriguez said of the burglar. "When he turned around, I put a light on him while holding the shotgun."
The parish president, known for his sense of humor, said, "I told him, 'Good morning. . . . You shopping early this morning.' "
Rodriguez said the man asked him not to shoot him "and I told him I wouldn't."
But when he told the man to sit down and wait for sheriff's deputies to arrive, the man threw the vacuum cleaner at him and ran, Rodriguez said.
He said he fired the two shots but the man kept running. Sheriff's deputies went to Sanchez's home but haven't been able to find him, Doran said.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-1/107596807716420.xml
