MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – A South Beach man wearing his boxers and a T-shirt pulled a gun on an intruder outside his home, then kept him there until police arrive.
Gabriel Ruz installed a surveillance system outside his apartment at 2nd Street and Jefferson Avenue about a year ago. He also got himself a gun, he said, because a man was stalking his wife and their first child had been born.
"I'm brushing my teeth, and my phone goes off," he said. "It's an ADT alert that there's somebody in front of the garage and I ran to my safe, to my gun."
"I was terrified for the baby, for him," said his wife Sabrina. "I didn't know if they were breaking into the car, into the house, how far they were, how many people. I had no clue."
Sabrina called police as Gabriel went outside. Surveillance video showed a man, identified by Miami Beach police as 23-year-old Lucas Queiroz, outside their Mercedes-Benz.
"I open the gate and I step outside and I immediately put the laser on his head and said, 'Freeze. Get on the ground,'" said Gabriel. "I start approaching and I see him reach for the bag, I said, 'Don't move. Get on the ground.' I didn't shoot because I know I would've killed him. I didn't know what he was up to, what his intentions were. I tell him, 'Roll over, onto your stomach, [and] put your hands behind your back.' I straddle him and I look around to make sure he's got nothing around him, no weapons. I've got the laser on the back of his head -- it's really life or death. In a split second, you better be ready to react and face the consequences."
"Why not just call the police and let it go?" asked Local 10's John Turchin. "Not your [genetic] make-up?"
"It's not my make-up. It's not," replied Gabriel.
"What if this guy had a gun?" said Turchin.
"It would've ended differently," said Gabriel.
"Thank God nobody got hurt. Everybody's safe and I hope nothing like this happens to us ever again," said Sabrina.
According to Miami Beach police, Queiroz told officers, "I'm not going to lie, all I was doing on the property was rolling a blunt."
After Queiroz let officers check his book bag for addition drugs or weapons, police said officers found one small bag of suspect psychedelic mushrooms and another small bag of a marijuana-like substance.
Police said after his Miranda rights were read, Queiroz told officers, "I use the weed to get high and the mushrooms for a spiritual and psychedelic experience."
Police charged Queiroz with one count of possession of a controlled substance, one count of possession of marijuana (less than 20 grams) and one count of trespassing on real property.
Queiroz is expected to appear in court Wednesday morning.