Machete-toting prowler caught on camera in Surprise couple’s backyard
SURPRISE, AZ (AZFamily) — The videos caught on George DeLuca’s home cameras early Thursday morning are bizarre.
They show a man going to his front door, holding up notes, and talking to himself before entering DeLuca’s backyard. DeLuca and his family live near Bell and Litchfield roads in Surprise.
At one point, a car passes through, but the prowler seems unfazed.
“He was waving his arms and asking like he needed permission to come in. He doesn’t say anything, but it seems like he’s having a conversation with himself,” DeLuca said.
The cameras capture the man passing by DeLuca’s eight-year-old son’s bedroom window. He’s then in the backyard for nearly an hour before DeLuca’s wife hears a commotion. She thinks their dogs got out.
“I went out to our patio to yell at the dogs and standing like 15 feet away from me is the man. I could see he had a machete on his side, so I yelled for my husband. Luckily, our room is on that side, so he was able to get there very quickly,” Karessa Armstrong said.
Oddly, though, she said he just stood there in the grass.
“Then when my husband came a little closer and was like no you need to leave, he jumped the wall,” she said.
DeLuca jumped the wall after him. By this time, a neighbor heard yelling and took off after him, too.
Surveillance cameras picked up the verbal exchange – the man saying someone told him to go there.
“I kept my distance. He tried to assault me with pepper spray, so we kept our distance. I didn’t get sprayed,” DeLuca said.
Police arrested the man, identifying him as George Kotselas, for misdemeanor trespassing a short distance away but released him that morning.
DeLuca and his wife are concerned he may do this again or worse.
They hope to talk to the police again to give them the videos.
“We would love to be able to bring this to police get this investigated and figure out what’s on that note,” Armstrong said.
When asked if anything else could or would be done, a Surprise police spokesperson said the investigating sergeant would determine that.
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