Quincy, Florida

From the Gadsen County Times of August 19, 2005

Alleged burglar caught in act

In a quiet neighborhood off Old Federal Road, south of the Quincy city limits, people go about their business daily. They love their families, their pets, they go to work, they pay their taxes, and they enjoy the rural life. They don't like having their homes burglarized. Lately it has been happenening all too frequently. Burglaries in the area have homeowners wary about leaving home, and law enforcement frustrated by being a few steps behind the criminals. Monday morning, everybody got a break. A homeowner, acting on a hunch, asked her supervisor if she could leave work to check on her home. She arrived home minutes after the burglar. He was still standing almost in her yard. Mario Curry, 22, had run out of time too, because in less than an hour later deputies had him in custody and at least three other burglaries had been solved. He is in the county jail charged with armed robbery, armed burglary of a dwelling, and grand theft. "I saw him on the property. When I walked into my house I knew immedately we had been robbed. Things were all over the floor and the bedroom door that is usually locked was open," said the homeowner, whom we will not identify. "I immediately called 911," she said. Then she grabbed her .357 magnum and went outside. She fired one round in the air and yelled for the man to stop. She tried to call 911 again and the man ran away. This time she fired five or six more shots in the air and yelled for him to stop. "He ran into the woods," she said. Later Monday morning authorities located one of the woman's tee shirts filled with coins, DVDs, a watch, and keys taken from a neighbor's home. She knew the burglar because he was the same man who rang her door bell Friday afternoon.

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