Pinson, AL man helped catch burglary suspect

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"My first thought was, 'Oh my God, my neighbor's been shot,'" he said. "My instincts just kicked in. I can't let these guys get away." It was about 3:30 p.m., and the three young men, one 19, one 16 and one 17, had tried to break into Trammell's neighbor's home. Trammell, who's 52 and has asthma, chased after them up a dirt hill and toward the woods behind the house. He got about 20 or 30 yards into the woods, he said, and he saw them. They apparently stopped to catch their breath, not knowing they were being followed. "I pulled out my firearm and aimed at them and told him to hit the ground," he said. Trammell said he didn't plan on firing unless someone pulled a gun on him.

Then, Trammell said, the suspect told them he had to urinate. Trammell told him he could, if he did it from his knees. The suspect was facing uphill.

"I said 'son, you might want to turn around and pee downhill,'" he said

After that, Trammell and Wood walked the suspect down and sat him down on a stump.

"I warned him 'if you make any sudden moves, I'm going to take it as a threat against my life and I'm going to fire,'" he said. "He was scared to death. He knew he had just made the biggest mistake of his life. I knew he wasn't going to try anything. "

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