Armed homeowner puts stop to burglar
BY DAVID MACDOUGALL
[email protected]
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Phillip Ramsey was drinking coffee in his James Island home Tuesday when he heard the sound of glass breaking.
"I dialed 911, picked up my gun and walked toward the back of the house," he said.
When he got to his bedroom, a man was climbing off his bed, which was under the broken window. Ramsey held the intruder at gunpoint until deputies arrived.
Charleston County Sheriff's deputies quickly arrived at the house on Mohawk Avenue and took the suspect into custody.
According to an incident report, deputies were called to the house about 1 p.m.
Ramsey said he heard a sound coming from his bedroom about noon and grabbed his 9 mm pistol, went into his room and found nothing amiss. After several minutes went by, a man knocked on his back door.
"I didn't recognize him and I didn't answer the door," Ramsey said. The man walked out of Ramsey's yard.
A short time later, a different man knocked on the door, Ramsey said. When Ramsey didn't answer, the man walked toward a window in the rear of the house. Ramsey heard glass breaking and found the would-be burglar in his room.
Ramsey, 53, said he learned how to handle guns as a child. "My father used to take me to the range," he said.
There hasn't been a huge crime problem at his house, which is in the Laurel Park subdivision off Folly Road. "My family has been here since 1968 and this is the first break-in," he said. Ramsey's 91-year-old mother also lives at the house. She was unaware of the break-in until it was over, he said.
Usually, he keeps his gun in his bedroom, he said. "For some reason, I had it with me in the kitchen today," he said. "God must have been watching out for me, I guess."
Ramsey said he thinks everyone should protect themselves. "Get a gun and learn how to use it," he said.
Criminals, Ramsey said, would do well to think about the possibility of being shot when they break into a home.
According to the incident report, the suspect told deputies that he was in the house to steal whatever he could and that he had a drug problem.
Mark Steven Cadell, 43, of Coker Avenue, is charged with first-degree burglary, said sheriff's Maj. Jim Brady. Cadell was being held in the Cannon Detention Center pending a bond hearing.
