Police in suburban Park Ridge have extended big "thank you" to a soldier who witnessed a burglary at his home while using a doorbell camera app from Iraq.
Richard Wharton called police at approximately 2:30 a.m. Friday and advised officers that he watched on his smartphone as two men walked away with power tools from his home, which is located on the South Side of Park Ridge.
Police arrived soon after and arrested the suspects who were identified as Andrew Gutierrez, 23, and Brandon Shaw, 24.
"Maybe a couple of minutes, tops. That's how fast it was," said Tom Gadomski, executive officer of the Park Ridge Police Dept. "So, talk about service from Iraq back to Park Ridge, Illinois. That's pretty impressive."
Police found the suspects on a nearby road, and they happened to be carrying several items from Wharton's garage and car burglaries in the area, police said.
"I was blown away, like the rest of us in the neighborhood who've heard about it," said neighborhod Marianne Guzzi. "What are the odds?"
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Following the incident, both police and neighbors urged others to lock their vehicles.
"Let's just hope that these car break-ins and these garage break-ins... stop right there, because we do love our community," Guzzi said.
Both suspects were each charged with three counts of burglary.
