TAFT, CA (KGET/CNN) - A California mom’s instincts kicked in immediately when her 7-year-old daughter spotted a home intruder. She held the man at gunpoint until police arrived and arrested him.
According to police, 25-year-old Aoreliorho Velasco snuck into Brittany Morse’s Taft, CA, home early Sunday morning and stayed there for three hours.
There were warning signs early on:
"We woke up in the morning, and my kids were saying, 'Your laptop's missing.' I was just on it the night before,” Morse said.
But it wasn’t until Morse’s 7-year-old daughter Aubrey checked the garage that the family found the intruder.
"She opens the door… sees him there and slams it shut, screaming [and] running back to me,” Morse said.
The mother shuttled her children into one room then grabbed the gun she bought just two weeks ago. She also called 911.
"I had told the dispatch, 'I believe he has a knife on him,' and I told him, 'You come near me [or] you take one step toward me, I will shoot you,’” she said.
Taft Police showed up in two minutes. In a news release, they said Velasco used the rear garage door to enter the home.
The most valuable thing Velasco is accused of taking is Morse’s laptop. He also allegedly stole food.
"He went through my purse. He didn't take my credit cards [or] the money I had in my purse. He took bananas,” Morse said.
Police say they’ve never seen a case like this.
“If he would’ve come in the house while me and my children were awake, I don’t know what he would have done, but I wasn’t going to sit there and find out,” Morse said.
Velasco was booked into Taft City Jail for first-degree burglary. He also has an outstanding misdemeanor warrant for possession of drug paraphernalia, according to police.
Copyright 2018 KGET, Brittany Morse via CNN. All rights reserved.
