PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Authorities say a man opened fire on a suspected burglar who attacked his wife at their home in North Redington Beach on Wednesday morning.
Deputies said they responded to reports of a burglary at a home on Bath Club Boulevard North around 3:23 a.m. When officers arrived, they found 51-year-old Robert Jackson standing in the roadway with a single gunshot wound.
He was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Investigators said Jackson had been yelling on Gulf Boulevard before he went to their residence and smashed through the front window with a rock.
Deputies said he encountered a 74-year-old woman inside the residence and “began to struggle with her physically.” Her husband heard her screams and saw her struggling with Jackson. The man then retrieved his firearm and shot Jackson in the right shoulder.
“I heard the screaming and the yelling, and then I heard the gunshot,” said a neighbor, John Paul McCarthy. “I couldn’t distinguish the glass breaking and all that, it was just commotion.”
“Came out of the bedroom and shot him,” McCarthy recalled. “Then he was screaming.”
Deputies said Jackson fled the home, then tried to break into another residence, but was unsuccessful.
Neighbors said he threw a rock at their window, but the glass didn’t shatter because it’s meant to withstand hurricanes. 8 On Your Side saw a video that shows the man with a rock in his hand, standing in front of the shattered window, screaming “ma’am” and “help.”
“Tried to get in there, broke their window and was bleeding all over everything,” McCarthy added.
“I see him going up the street in pain screaming and yelling and finally the police showed up,” McCarthy added. “We’ve lived on this street since 1969, and this is a first for commotion on the street.”
According to the sheriff’s office, Jackson is charged with burglary with battery and attempted residential burglary. He’s expected to be booked into the Pinellas County Jail once he’s released from the hospital.
