COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. -- An auto shop owner beaten black and blue after he was attacked by an intruder with a crowbar during an overnight break-in said he feels lucky to be alive
Wayne McGlone said he believed he was going to die after he decided to stay at his shop last Wednesdayafter working overtime.
McGlone feels lucky to be alive after he decided to stay at his shop after working overtime last Wednesday.
"I felt completely safe that night when I went up and locked that door and came back here to lay down," McGlone said.
However, when he awoke to a strange noise around 2 a.m., he realized something was wrong. When he got up to investigate, he realized a burglar had used a crowbar to get in the front door, snatch up the cash register – and had slammed it down onto the floor.
McGlone spotted the figure bent over the register trying to pry it open. When the man realized McGlone had walked in, he stood up and they addressed each other. Within seconds, the confrontation turned violent and McGlone was hit in the chest.
"The second time I heard him distinctly yell that he was going to kill me and he swang from the side. As I ducked down, my arm came up, and I took the crowbar from the top of my shoulder, all the way to my elbow," McGlone said. "If he had gotten me on the ground, he was going to kill me."
The two men struggled and the suspect took off running as McGlone called 911.
Then a few hours later, just a block away, another business was hit. Keeton's Kid's was broken into, but nothing was stolen.
"Well they came in supposedly with a crow bar, and they smashed the window in," Keeton's Kid's owner Anne Johnson said.
Colonial Heights police said the number of break-ins are at record numbers this year.
"Since the beginning of the year, 2014, we've had 48 B&Es. In the entire year of 2013, we had 54," Sgt. Rob Ruxer with the Colonial Heights Police Department said.
While police admitted the number of break-ins are high, they point out that they have also made multiple arrests in connection with many of the crimes.
The suspect who attacked McGlone is still on the run.
