An elderly North Carolina man prevented his home from being burglarized yet again by the same individuals when he shot one of them as the man attempted to break into the house earlier this month.
The injured suspect later pretended to be a victim of a drive-by shooting only to have his story quickly unravel. Within hours, he was arrested and charged with multiple offenses.
Shortly after 7:00 a.m. on July 12, a man attempted to break into the home of 74-year-old Donald Bolynn in Gastonia, about 22 miles west of Charlotte. Security camera footage showed the suspect, identified by police as 57-year-old Cedric Ford, repeatedly trying to gain entry through windows and doors. At one point, Ford used his posterior to break down the door. He later pushed an air-conditioning unit out of a window.
Bolynn suffers from several health issues and is hard of hearing. However, he stated that the banging was so intense he could hear something or someone outside his house.
“Got up off the couch and came to the front door and looked out. I didn’t see anything,” Bolynn said.
Bolynn then saw a man at the window and fired a single shot, hitting Ford in the chest.
“That’s when I got my gun and shot,” Bolynn explained.
Bolynn’s niece, Crystal Ellis, told police that the ordeal shook her uncle badly, describing how frightening it was for him to witness someone attempting to force entry into his home.
Bolynn, who quickly reported the incident to authorities, told police he wasn’t sure if he had hit Ford but was certain he had ended the attempted break-in. He also stated that Ford and his girlfriend, 47-year-old Sanja Stallings, had tried to burglarize and rob him multiple times over the previous month.
This time, thanks to Bolynn’s use of a firearm, they were foiled.
Police reported that Ford and Stallings drove to a nearby gas station and called 911. When officers arrived, the pair claimed Ford was the victim of a drive-by shooting by someone in a white car.
Detectives soon discovered that Ford and Stallings were not innocent as they portrayed themselves. They had been suspects in a July 2 robbery on the same street as Bolynn’s residence. Additionally, surveillance technology pinpointed the shot that hit Ford to the vicinity of Bolynn’s house, not the location where Ford claimed he was attacked.
Under its Flock Camera initiative, the Gastonia Police Department has 158 gunshot-detection receivers throughout the city. The department claims these devices “DO NOT record audio all the time; they ‘sleep’ until an impulsive sound triggers them,” then notify the Gastonia Police Real Time Crime Center.
In this case, the “impulsive sound” was the shot that struck Ford. Detection devices picked it up and triangulated to determine the location—about 100 feet from Bolynn’s home. The shot occurred at 7:14 a.m., just after the video showed Ford breaking into the house. Another camera captured Ford getting into a car with Stallings and driving away, presumably to the gas station where they made their emergency call three minutes later.
Officers treated Ford’s wound at the gas station before taking him to a hospital for additional treatment. Upon discharge, he was arrested and charged with attempted first-degree burglary and felony obstruction of justice—the latter charge for lying about the shooting incident. Stallings was also arrested and charged with first-degree burglary.
According to police, “The case remains under investigation. Additional charges related to the attempted burglary and false reporting are pending review by the Gaston County District Attorney’s Office.”
Bolynn, whose property—and potentially life—was saved by his use of a firearm, will not be charged, police stated.
The police department highlighted this incident as an example of their technology: “The integration of gunshot detection technology with Gastonia’s Real Time Crime Center and Flock Camera network represents the department’s continued commitment to using innovative tools to prevent crime, improve response times, solve crimes, and keep residents safe.”
However, the use of such technology has raised concerns about privacy. Police acknowledge that it presents a “clear and present danger” to liberties and note that efforts to rein in the system are welcome.
