Metro Homeowner Tackles, Handcuffs Teen Burglar

A metro homeowner stops a burglar in his tracks after he woke up to find the suspect in his dining room.

Gray Delacluyse’s quick actions landed 17-year-old Alejandro Vazquez in the Oklahoma County jail on a complaint of burglary and possession of marijuana.

Delacluyse was awakened early Monday morning by his dog Charlie.  

“I woke up in the morning with my dog Charlie barking and that is unusual for him,” said Delacluyse.

He went to check out the commotion and saw something unexpected in his dining room. Vazquez was standing by the dining table and bolted for the backdoor when he saw the homeowner. Delacluyse’s first reaction was to chase the suspect.

“The thought process going through my head at that point was like, he is not getting away,” said Delacluyse.

He said he chased the suspect out the backdoor and tackled him off the backyard deck. He punched the teen a few times and put him in a chokehold.

“I was standing behind him with my arm wrapped around his neck and I was actually, we were laying on the ground,” said the homeowner.        

He said the teen asked him several times to let him go. When his fiancé Shantel Shaver realized what was happening she called police and grabbed a pair of handcuffs from the house.

“I grabbed those and put them on him and waited for the cops to show up,” said Shaver. “It was the longest eight minutes of my life.”

Police said the suspect had a backpack containing items he took from the house. The police report states the suspect took an iron, two diet Cokes, a few electronics and a large kitchen knife. Besides a few scrapes, the homeowner was not injured and he said when police arrived they were surprised to see the suspect was already in handcuffs.

“They said I did a good job having the handcuffs on him,” said Delacluyse. “It was pretty easy to turn him over.”