News crew captures moment armed citizen catches church burglar

Reporter Lindsey Mastis and her photographer, Malik Parler, were on their way to report on a story earlier this month when they drove by a Tampa church and noticed something that caused them to stop, back up and call 911.

A man was standing outside of the church doors with his hands in the air, while a second man was standing at the bottom of the steps with a handgun trained on him.

Someone broke into the church earlier that evening, so the facility’s maintenance worker, Ed Clayton, went to board up the broken doors. Clayton, who has a permit to carry a concealed weapon, decided to take his handgun and shortly after arriving at the church, Clayton realized the burglar came back.

Clayton drew his weapon and held the suspected burglar at bay until police arrived a few minutes later. All the while, Parler captured the intense moments on camera.

The suspect was identified as John Novobylski, 23, and he’s facing a felony criminal mischief charge.

[ WFLA ]

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