BSO: Man Invades Homes, Victims Fight Back
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POMPANO BEACH (CBSMiami) – Inside a small cluster of apartments in Pompano Beach is where victims and detectives say Joey Thompson simply walked into some unlocked units on Saturday night, threatened people, robbed one of them and even hurt them.
A female victim -- who did not want to reveal her identity -- shared the details of her encounter with Thompson. The woman said she and her husband were putting their son to bed when Thompson walked into the child's bedroom and confronted them.
"He was like, 'Get down' and he went to me and said, 'Get down' and he shoved my husband down on the bed," the woman told CBS4's Carey Codd.
The woman said she and her husband fought with Thompson and the fight among the trio spilled out into the front of their apartment. She said Thompson tried to climb the fence several times to get away but she was determined to catch him.
Click here to watch Carey Codd's report.
"He turns around and punches me and we're tussling," she said. "He gets me on the ground and starts choking me."
She said her husband tried to gouge Thompson's eyes out and she rained blows on him. In Thompson's mugshot you can see the results -- bandages on his face, a completely shut eye and numerous cuts. The victim said she and her husband finally wrestled Thompson down at a nearby fence.
Robert Hopkins, a director at a nearby sober house, said he heard the victim yelling for help.
"She was screaming for her life and I didn't know what was going on and as soon as I seen the guy I held him down until the cops came," Hopkins said.
Investigators said Thompson also walked inside the home of a 77-year-old man in the neighborhood, threatened to kill him, stole $5 from him and destroyed the man's cellphone. Even before that, 8-year-old Katrina Shawfield said Thompson walked into her home and casually and eerily started a conversation with her mother as she cut a melon.
"I was scared because I thought he was going to come in and kill something or kill my mom or one of my sisters and brothers," the girl said.
The Shawfield's said Thompson quickly left then went on his crime spree. The victim said she was angry and simply could not let Thompson get away.
"If he got away, we would have truly been victimized. He'd be off in the night, disappeared, never seen or heard from again," she said. "And he'd be like, 'That was a close one' and continue doing what ever he's doing."
Thompson is being held in the Broward County Jail without bond. He is facing several serious charges including home invasion robbery and battery on a person 65-years or older.