A young teenager reportedly alerted police to a suspect hiding in his house with his mother and siblings.
Phoenix Police report that on Dec. 2, a suspect, later identified as 39-year-old Timothy Lee Byers, shoplifted two bottles of cough syrup from the Walmart store near 51st Avenue and Indian School Road.
Police spotted him in the parking lot, but he fled in a car, court documents said.
Police followed him to a neighborhood near 59th Avenue and McDowell Road, where Byers jumped out of his car and started jumping fences to escape the police.
Police say Byers entered a home through the back door. A woman and four kids — between the ages of 9 months to 16 years old — were inside the house at the time of the incident.
Byers allegedly told the family to be quiet because the police were after him, court documents said.
He looked out the window and saw officers searching in the area.
One of the victims, a 13-year-old girl, opened the door and alerted police to a stranger in their house. Byers allegedly grabbed the girl, threw her to the ground and slammed the door shut.
"She told him to get out," the mother, who has asked to not be identified, said. "She didn't care that police had done something to him. He needed to get out but he got angry. My daughter opened the door to scream and tell police that he was here but the guy pushed her to the ground."
Police heard screaming inside, broke through the front door and arrested Byers. No one in the home was injured during the incident.
"The police officer came into the house and he grabbed the man, pushed him to the ground and then onto the floor and then took him out," she explained.
Byers has been charged with multiple crimes including kidnapping, burglary, aggravated assault and the shoplifting of cough syrup.
Meanwhile, the woman says her children are traumatized by the incident.
"They don't sleep," she said. "My daughter does not want to go to school She has a lot of nerves. My girls are very nervous. My son too because he just saw the guy, got so scared, he ran; he wanted to get out."
