JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – Police have arrested a man who they believe broke into a Jacksonville Beach home on Fourth Avenue North about 6:20 a.m. Thursday and held two men at gunpoint while stealing one victim's wallet and cellphone.
Police said the victims were not injured.
A neighbor told News4Jax that the robber stole a gun from one of the cars in the driveway and used that during the home invasion.
According to the Jacksonville Beach Police Department, the robber then left the home, heading in an unknown direction.
Later in the morning, officers detained 22-year-old Nathaniel Raheem Chapman, who was interviewed, then arrested on charges of two counts of petty theft and two counts of burglary of a conveyance related to other burglaries in the area about the same time.
Investigators said Chapman is responsible for the burglaries and the home invasion.
Detectives were still investigating, and more charges are likely to be filed against Chapman. The detectives are still working on interviewing victims and possible witnesses and gathering evidence.
The home invasion victims said they were glad to know an arrest had been made in the case.
Neighbors said the incident is highly unusual for the area, and they'll be taking extra precautions now.
"That's pretty scary. That's not something you think about at the beach," neighbor Shelly Speckman said. "I probably will double-check my doors to make sure they're locked; just keep an eye out on things a bit more."
Speckman said that earlier this week, her neighbor's car was broken into in the driveway. She said that the owner thought the car was locked when he went to sleep, but it wasn't. Because of that, she took extra precautions last night.
"I went out and made sure that the car beeped at me to tell me that it was locked and double-checked the doors," Speckman said.
Another neighbor said because of the recent car break-ins, she was confused about what happened when she woke up to police activity in the neighborhood.
"I thought it was just a break-in to a car, but when I went over and talked to the guys across the street is when I found out that they were actually held at gunpoint. I was quite nervous and quite shaken up," the neighbor said. "I've lived here for 15 years, and we have not had as much activity as we have had now. We've had issues in the past, but not like we had this past week."