It might be cliche to say that when seconds count, police are minutes away, but quite often it’s true. It was especially true for a Tampa Bay mother who had to wait 26 minutes for police arrive after dialing 911.
A little before 1 a.m., the woman saw a suspicious person on her property, according to WFLA. So, she dialed 911 at 12:41 a.m. to report the incident. Shortly later, she noticed her mini-pig had its nose on the ground, and she realized someone might be inside her garage. She grabbed her gun and entered the garage and saw a man a short distance away. She immediately dialed 911 again at 12:54 a.m., and told the dispatcher she had a gun on the suspect. Additionally, she told the dispatcher she had called 10 minutes before.
During this incident, the mother of four also called a neighbor, whose husband headed over with his own gun. The neighbor also called police to let them know her armed husband had entered the situation.
“I want to make sure the cops know my husband went over there with a gun over there to protect her,” said Melodie Nieves to dispatch.
Police finally arrived at 1:07 a.m. to take the suspect, identified as Devin Cooke, into custody and transported him to a for a mental health facility for evaluation. Once released, police plan to charge Cooke with burglary.