TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Police say a picture of a doorbell's surveillance video posted to Facebook resulted in the arrest of an 18-year-old accused of attacking a man at his home.
Leopold Kenneth Thompson Jr. was described in court documents as one of two males between the ages of 16 and 19 who attacked the victim after knocking on his door under the pretext of looking for a dog on April 26.
The victim's wife posted a picture of the suspects to Facebook and soon got responses as to the suspects' identities.
On the day of the attack, the victim gave the two suspects permission to look for the dog in his back yard, according to a probable cause document.
The doorbell video shows the two suspects approaching the door and one of them asking the victim whether he had seen a white dog and him replying no and telling the two they can check his back yard.
After the victim and the two males spoke briefly about how he had previously lost a dog, the victim said, one suspect "swung at him" and then he was hit by both suspects about four times.
He said he was hit from his abdomen to the left side of his head while defending himself. After he grabbed a crowbar, he said, the two suspects ran away from the area.
The Tallahassee Police Department investigator said the victim had no visible injuries and refused medical services. The victim emailed a copy of the front doorbell camera footage to the investigator.
On May 1, the victim came to the TPD headquarters and provided an investigator a recorded statement in which he said he suspected the males were going to commit a home invasion robbery. He also said he thought a former employee had paid the suspects to attack him.
After the image was posted to Facebook, one suspect's father reached out to the victim via text. But the victim said he was dissatisfied with the way the father handled the situation, and so the victim said he brought the issue to the police.
Investigators with the Juvenile Services Unit identified the suspects by the use of police databases and social media.
On May 16, at a photographic line-up, the victim identified the Thompson as one of his attackers.
Thompson, who was booked into the Leon County Detention Center on Sunday for battery, was released later that day on a $1,000 bond.
