Homeowner surprises would-be burglar, helps PV police nab suspect

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A suspected criminal that had already made his way onto the Prairie Village police’s radar found himself in more trouble Wednesday when he tried to burglarize a home whose occupants happened to be in the next room.

Capt. Wes Lovett reports that the owners of the home in the 3900 block of W. 89th Street noticed a man walking outside their home, which is under construction, and heard him enter the residence a few minutes later.

“The place could look vacant from the street,” Lovett said. “I suspect the burglar was pretty surprised to see the owners when they came into the living room.”

The homeowner chased the would-be burglar from the house and down the street, where the man hopped into an SUV and drove off.

A police unit happened to be in the area, spotted the vehicle, and pursued it to the neighborhood near 95th Street and Granada. The man jumped out of the vehicle, but was apprehended relatively quickly without resisting arrest.

Lovett said the man had attracted the department’s attention by selling items to a pawn shop that had been stolen from the construction trailer on the site of the new Corinth Square CVS.