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Dad Shoots Burglary Suspect While Girl Hides

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By GEORGE H. NEWMAN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 2, 2008

On the run from angry residents firing guns, a man suspected of several break-ins, including one at a deputy's home, broke into three homes Tuesday before a father shot him in the foot.

Authorities say Christopher Collins, 34, of 1319 Holloway Road, tried to hide at 4729 Dawnmeadow Court, where a 12-year-old girl was home alone.

Her father, alerted by a neighbor, returned home and shot Collins, keeping him detained until law enforcement could arrive.

The suspect first broke into a mobile home about 7:10 a.m., just outside the city limits in the 4900 block of State Road 574, Hillsborough County sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

Property owner Carl Dekle said his tenant returned home from breakfast about 7:30 a.m. to find the back door open.

"He told me the front door to the trailer was smashed in and that he had called 911," Dekle said. "He was afraid to go inside, but a sheriff's deputy got here within a couple of minutes, and they walked around the home."

The tenant was armed with a shotgun when the deputy arrived, Dekle said.

"When they stepped around the side of the trailer, the burglar ran out the back door and ran toward the woods," Dekle said.

"They didn't know at the time, but the man had a pistol on him that he stole from my tenant," he said.

Dekle said the deputy raised his weapon and shouted for the man to halt. As the man continued to run, the tenant fired his shotgun in the air.

"Another neighbor fired his shotgun as the guy ran for the woods," Dekle said. There were "deputies everywhere. I had seven ... deputy cars in my yard at one point."

Collins crossed back into the city and broke into a home on Dawnmeadow Court in the Country Hills subdivision, Plant City Police Capt. Carl Lane said.

That homeowner scared him off, and the suspect left and broke into the girl's home on Dawnmeadow Court, officials said. The girl hid under blankets.

Resident Teresa Armbruser saw Collins jump a fence, and when he looked at her, she ran back into her home, she said.

"I knew he didn't belong in our neighborhood," Armbruser said. "You just know when something doesn't belong, and that gentleman did not belong here."

A concerned neighbor called the girl's father, Anthony Mendolia, 59, officials said. Mendolia returned home, armed himself with a handgun and confronted Collins, who had taken some clothes and was changing into them.

Cindy Storie said she also saw Collins running through the neighborhood and flagged down a police officer to point him in the right direction.

"We knew they were looking for somebody because the helicopters had been flying over our neighborhood for 20 minutes," Storie said. "I'm in my back yard, and I hear shots."

Mendolia "fired two shots at the suspect, striking him once in the left foot," Lane said. "The suspect then ran from the home. The homeowner chased him down and held him until the police arrived."

When Collins was arrested about 8:51 a.m., he had the stolen .380 semiautomatic handgun from the mobile home, Lane said.

Collins was taken to South Florida Baptist Hospital, where he was treated and turned over to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

He was charged with 14 offenses, including multiple theft and burglary charges, according to jail records. He was being held without bail.

Deputies had been looking for Collins in connection with at least three other burglaries, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

He is suspected of breaking into a deputy's home in Dover on Saturday, causing about $1,000 in damage, Carter said.

Once inside, Collins removed property valued at more than $15,000, including various calibers of ammunition, jewelry, money and bulletproof vests. The suspect left his cell phone at the scene.

Over the next two days, Collins broke into two more residences on Wiggins Road in Plant City, taking a .357 Ruger handgun, a laptop computer and a pickup, Carter said. The truck was found on Tanner Road.

News Channel 8 photojournalist Peter Masa and Tribune reporter Mike Wells contributed to this report. Reporter George H. Newman can be reached at

gnewman@tampatrib.com or (813) 865-4451 .

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