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Thursday, December 22, 2011

Mobile Mayor Sam Jones holds intruder at gunpoint; man says God sent him

MOBILE, Al.
Mobile Mayor Sam Jones held an intruder at gunpoint Tuesday night until police arrived, after the Mississippi man broke into his garage, officials said.
James Harvey Wilkerson
James Harvey Wilkerson, 47, was arrested and charged with third-degree burglary and breaking and entering into a vehicle.
Wilkerson is from Moss Point, according to an address given by police.
Jones declined to comment on the event, and police declined to release the full report of the incident. Jones' spokeswoman, Barbara Drummond, relayed his story as follows:
Jones left his house in Toulminville at about 9 p.m. to get some items from the grocery store. When he returned, he noticed that the nativity scene in his yard, which he’d taken care to unplug when he left, was lit up.
As he pulled into the driveway, he noticed that his truck had been tampered with and that his garage door had been opened.
He drew his .38-caliber pistol and advanced on the garage until he saw a man inside without a shirt.
The mayor asked him what he was doing. The man replied that “the Lord sent him.”
The man took steps toward him, Drummond said, and Jones told him not to come any further or he would be shot.
As the man came outside, Jones recognized Wilkerson. Moments before, as he drove to the store, Jones had seen the man walking down the street.
Jones called police, who arrived about seven minutes later.
During the interim, Jones asked the man if he knew whose house he’d been trying to break into. The man said he didn’t.
Wilkerson later told police that he thought the house belonged to Jesus, said Cpl. Christopher Levy, a spokesman.
Police arrested the man without incident and nobody was hurt, Levy said.
Injuries to Wilkerson’s face, which left wounds visible in his jail mug shot, had been suffered before the alleged burglary, Levy said.
Wilkerson had recently left the University of South Alabama Medical Center and was still wearing the patient identification bracelet when police took him into custody, Levy said.
Drummond said that the man had gained entry into the garage via an electronic opener found in the truck, along with a set of keys, none of which corresponded to the door giving access to the interior of the home.
Wilkerson had apparently been trying to open a window from the garage to the interior of the house, as he’d torn open the screen, Drummond said.
Drummond said Wilkerson was compliant the entire time and at no time did Jones feel threatened.

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