HIALEAH, FLA. (WSVN) - A masked man was arrested after police said he was spotted trying to open car doors in a Hialeah neighborhood and was found carrying a stolen firearm.
According to an arrest report, officers responded to the area of East Fourth Avenue and East 56th Street shortly before 2:30 a.m. Tuesday after receiving reports of a suspicious person wearing a white hoodie, white pants and a mask.
Police said they located 19-year-old Amari Richardson nearby with a shirt fashioned into a makeshift mask covering his face, which he pulled down as officers approached.
When officers asked whether he was carrying any weapons, Richardson told them he had a gun, investigators said.
Officers recovered a black Smith & Wesson handgun from his waistband and later determined it had been reported stolen out of Miramar.
According to the report, a witness told police he saw Richardson attempting to open the doors of a parked GMC van while leaving his home for work.
When questioned, Richardson told officers he was coming from a club in Opa-locka and walking to a friend’s home in West Hialeah but could not provide an address.
Investigators said Richardson gave conflicting explanations about why he was walking through the residential neighborhood instead of following his phone’s directions.
He told officers he decided to ignore the map’s instructions because he had “free will,” according to the report.
Police noted the neighborhood had recently experienced a rise in burglaries and thefts.
Richardson was arrested and charged with grand theft of a firearm, wearing a mask on a street, and loitering or prowling.
During his bond court appearance Tuesday, a judge found probable cause and ordered house arrest with a $2,800 bond.
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