A Weatherford man's quick thinking stopped an in-progress car burglary, and police say his no-nonsense response was the right call.
"I felt that this was a person that needed to be stopped," Kwin Smith said, "I mean above and beyond my property, this is my neighborhood, I grew up here, these are my friends."
After spotting the stranger approaching other vehicles and homes in the neighborhood around 8 a.m. Thursday, Smith unlocked his AR-15 rifle and carried it outside.
Smith spotted the man inside a parked car, so he approached carefully and knocked on the window with his rifle.
"He’s in there, and he doesn’t look up, and he’s starting to pull back across, so I go, 'get out of the car!,'" Smith said. "He gets out of the car, and I walk this way behind the wheel well, and I’m telling him to get around the car, come over here and get down, get down, get down."
Using his free hand, Smith used his cellphone to call 911.
"The victim did an outstanding job, he got on the phone immediately with 911, he provided us all the information that we needed," said Weatherford police Sgt. Jason Hayes. "And we were able to arrive and safely take care of the scene without any incident."
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Weatherford police arrested 18-year-old Donald Gaskamp Jr. and took him to the Parker County jail.
"Neighbors looking out for one another is a wonderful thing,” said Smith’s neighbor, Weatherford Fire Marshall Bob Hopkins. "In essence, he’s looking out for all of us in that way, and we’re just glad that it turned out as well as it did."
Weatherford police said there's been a rash of recent car break-ins in the city.
"I’m just a dude that didn’t want somebody to take my stuff, and I want my neighborhood to be safe," Smith said.
