Peachtree Corners Man Confronts Would-Be Burglars

When two young men decided the River Walk subdivision would be an easy mark for a Monday morning burglary they didn't realize they'd run into one homeowner who wasn't afraid to confront them.

Chris Allen, owner of American Preparedness Center located on Peachtree Parkway, got a call from a neighbor who alerted him that she and her husband had seen two young men, one with a backpack, walk under his back deck.

"My husband and I were in the kitchen eating breakfast around 10:30 and we saw these two young black men walking down our driveway." said a River Walk resident who asked not to be identified. 

She said the men made a quick u-turn when they saw them looking and headed for another house. "When they got to Chris' house, they walked right up to his back deck," she said.

That's when she made two calls - one to Allen, who was at home, to alert him - and the second call to 911.

Allen, armed with a pistol, confronted the two who then made a quick retreat down the street. "I told them to leave the neighborhood," sald Allen. But they headed toward the back of the subdivision where there was no way out. "Obviously, they were not too smart," sald Allen.

Unconvinced that they were leaving the subdivision, Allen got in his truck and followed the two but lost sight of them. Acting on a hunch that they may have made their way to an adjacent subdivision, he then drove to Gran River, next door, where he saw several Gwinnett County police cars that had surrounded a cream colored PT Cruiser.

Gwinnett County police had responded to a suspicious activity call at 10:30 a.m. The caller stated that a light colored PT Cruiser with a couple of males were going from house to house in the Gran River subdivision and knocking on doors.

When police stopped the driver of the vehicle they discovered several televisions, a computer and a bag of foreign coins in the car. Driving the car was one Daronta Bell, who didn't have a real good explanation on why he was in the Gran River subdivision, or why the back of his car was filled with electronics.

First he told police he was dropping off his friend, Julio, to visit another friend then later he said he was helping his friend move which was the reason for all of the electronics in the back seat and trunk.

Gwinnett Police suspect the two men that Allen confronted in the River Walk subdivision may have been working with Bell. Police arrested Bell for "suspicious and criminal acts" but the other two men who were described as in their late teens or early twenties remain at large.

That same morning around 10:30 one River Walk home was burglarized. According to the police report, the back door was kicked in and the resident's bedroom ransacked. Two lap top computers and several other items were stolen. However, none of the stolen items were found in Bell's car.

"Thank goodness we have watchful neighbors," said Allen who noted that just six weeks ago another break-in occurred in the subdivision - electronics were among the items stolen.

The incident has left the resident who made the 911 call more than a bit uneasy. "I'm telling you, make sure you lock your doors," she said.