Forsyth County

Homeowners come face-to-face with burglary suspect

FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — Local police have issued a warning after an intruder startled homeowners in the middle of the night.

Channel 2's Carl Willis found two cases in Forsyth County in which homeowners came face to face with a burglary suspect within hours of each other. In one case, a homeowner fired a shot at the suspect.

Yvonne Canty said she woke up to strange noises and a flashing light coming from her living room. That when she said she got the shock of a lifetime as soon as she stepped out of bed.

"There was a guy crouched right down there,” Yvonne told Willis, showing him where she found the suspect.

The Forsyth County Sheriff's Office said this was just one of the two rare cases in the county, which both took place overnight Wednesday, in which a burglar entered an occupied home and was confronted by the homeowner.


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"I said, 'Get out of my house!'” Yvonne said.

The burglar sprinted away, crashing through the back door.

"There was dirt. There was trash, but before I got there I saw the knife right down there," Yvonne told Willis as she showed him how the suspect ran from her home.

"To me, it's a wake-up call," Charles Canty told Willis.

He said the burglar got into his home with the keys that he had left in his car.

"We feel like he at least made at least three trips in and out of our house and put all of the things he was taking right by the car," Charles said.

The burglar took unusual items, including laundry detergent and toilet paper.

For now, residents in the area are on alert and taking better care to lock up.

"I feel sorry for him. He risked getting killed breaking into someone's house for the minor things that he took," Charles said.

"It's scary, and then everybody saying, 'You could have been killed,' and we could have," Yvonne said.

A little later, about 2.5 miles away on Keith Bridge Road, a second victim reported bumping into a burglar who stole several items, including their Chevy Tahoe.

In that case, the homeowner got off a shotgun blast as the burglar escaped.