MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A Miami Beach family is recalling the moment they found two men attempting to break into their home and the actions they took to prevent the crooks from going inside.
The victim, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was happy his wife and 4-year-old daughter were out of the apartment during last Saturday’s confrontation. He said he saw one of the burglars trying to get into his home through the window.
“He was working the screen door, and he opened the window,” he said. “He moved this aside here, all this garbage. He had the window open, and I just threw a karate punch out right through the open window at him and just yelled like, ‘Get the F out of here.'”
Then, the victim said, the crook ran, and he spotted his accomplice, as well. The men bolted from an apartment complex near Jefferson Avenue and Seventh Street.
The apartment resident would chase the would-be burglars, but the crooks would head south. They then ran into a nearby building, as the father called 911.
Miami Beach Police responded to the victim’s call for help moments later and arrested the two crooks at gunpoint. They were identified as Dominic Vigil and Manuel Cruz, and they face charges of occupied burglary and criminal mischief.
Police said Cruz had a knife and used it to cut the victim’s window screen, and they added Vigil had a gun.
When asked why he chased the two crooks, the victim said, “Because I’m so enraged. I was just mad. If he opened the door, I have a gun. I have, like, samurai swords. I have nunchucks. I have every weapon that can be thrown on him, so it probably ended up better for him.”
Investigators said both Cruz and Vigil admitted to taking part in the attempted burglary and having weapons in their possession.
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