Police are searching for a man accused of breaking into a vehicle, entering a family’s garage and then opening fire at a homeowner after she confronted him.
The ordeal began shortly after 7 a.m. Sunday at a home on Madison Avenue in the Fort Washington section of Upper Dublin Township. Police say the man entered an unlocked vehicle in the driveway, found a garage door opener inside and then used it to enter the garage.
The homeowner, Melissa Malloy, told NBC10 she first spotted the suspect in a black Ford Expedition outside her house but figured he was lost and needed directions. She became suspicious when she heard her garage door opening. When she went to investigate she saw the suspect inside her garage.
“I wasn’t thinking,” Malloy said. “I was really curious. What are you doing here? And who do you think you are? And he didn’t respond at all.”
Malloy chased the man out of the garage. Realizing the danger, she turned around. That’s when the man pulled out a gun and fired one shot. Fortunately for Malloy, she wasn’t struck. The man went into his vehicle and fled the scene.
“I remember hearing the shot and thinking, that sounded exactly like a gunshot but it’s Sunday morning, in Upper Dublin,” Melissa’s husband Chris Malloy told NBC10.
Neither Melissa, Chris nor their three children were injured during the incident.
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“He dropped it all in the driveway on his way out to his car and there was a shell casing on the road,” Chris Malloy said.
The scary moment for the family comes as Chris continues to recover from a cancer battle.
“We’re going to lock our doors,” Melissa Malloy said. “We’re going to make sure our car doors are locked and we’re just going to carry on.”
Police described the suspect as a “heavy-set male” but did not release further description. Surveillance video from a neighbor also captured the suspect breaking into another vehicle in the area. If you have any information on the incident or suspect, please call Upper Dublin Police.
