Police arrested two Bronx men and charged them with armed burglary Monday night after alert residents near the Teaneck-Bergenfield border called to say they spotted them trying to break into their home, and other neighbors told officers they had seen the masked men fleeing, authorities said.
The chase started shortly before 9:30 p.m., when a resident of Liberty Road in Teaneck called 9-1-1 to report that she and her husband had just scared away two men who were trying to break into their home after they heard voices and saw flashlights around their property, Detective Capt. Timothy Torell of the Englewood police said.
Torell said patrol officers flooded the area and came across a neighbor who said he saw the two suspects fleeing with masks on and pointed out the direction they ran. Within a short time, Torell said, Officer Jaime Gillert spotted and stopped the two suspects on Fairfield Street.
Other officers and detectives arrived from Englewood and Teaneck and the two men were arrested for possessing burglary tools and a knife. The men were taken to Englewood police headquarters and questioned by detectives from Englewood and Teaneck.
The men, identified as Dominique Devon Townsend, 20, and Javon Gilbert, 19, both from Bronx, were charged with second-degree armed attempted burglary for their alleged attempt to break into the home on Liberty Road.
The detectives also learned that, after fleeing the Liberty Road home, the two men allegedly committed two vehicle burglaries on Fairfield Street just moments before they were arrested, Torell said, resulting in two additional counts of third degree burglary for each of them.
The men were held in the Englewood lock-up on $81,500 bail.
Townsend has a previous conviction in Bronx for firearm possession and Gilbert has convictions for robbery and weapons possession in Bronx, Torell said.
“This investigation is ongoing.” Torell said. “Evidence was located in the pair’s possession that may lead to additional charges. We’ve experienced a spate of residential burglaries in the area recently that we will be looking very hard at as it relates to these suspects.”
Torell credited cooperation from citizens “that is essential in solving crimes like burglary.”
