DYERSBURG, Tenn. — Home invaders smashed in a Dyer County couple’s apartment door.
Fortunately the bad guys were scared away, and police quickly captured an adult and two teenagers Sunday.
Neighbors told WREG crime is highly unusual in their Dyersburg apartment complex and have no idea why the family was targeted.
“They cool people,” said a McIver Manor Apartments resident, who didn’t want her identity known. “I mean they’re no troublemakers, they stay to they self. They don’t bother nobody.”
She was asleep Sunday morning when three burglars broke in her neighbors’ back door.
“My boyfriend heard some knocking, beating on the door, and then he came in and woke me up. Afterwards all I seen was police, ” the woman told WREG.
Dyersburg Police reported the trio got inside the apartment but were scared away by a man and woman inside.
Police spotted the getaway car a short distance from the complex and arrested three suspects: 24-year-old Eric Gardner and two teenage boys. One was 16, and the other 17.
Two shotguns were also found in the vehicle.
While no shots were fired inside the apartment, police did find a recently fired shotgun shell in the parking lot.
Bobby Hill’s daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren live in McIver Manor. He still doesn’t know all the facts about what happened.
“All I heard was somebody come over here and kicked the door down and stuff like that,” Hill said.
Hill, who lives nearby, always checks on the welfare of his loved ones and admits the break-in makes him nervous.
“I worry about them,” he said. “And when something happens I come over here and check on them. I’m just concerned about them.”
He said the complex is usually very quiet and the manager makes sure things stay that way.
“Every once in a while they get what you call a ‘bad element’ in here. But they weed them out,” said Hill.
The teens are being held in a juvenile facility, and Eric Gardner is in the Dyer County Jail. All three were charged with aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery.
Gardner’s bond was $75, 000, and he’s scheduled to be back in court in November.