The guy had been released on bond from another burglary charge the day before? You literally can’t make this up
And incidentally, Florida has the Baker act where a person can be held for 72 hours for mental evaluation. The Police can do this on their own, but from the article apparently had no info the guy was ‘mental’ and yet, all the family had to do was let the authorities know he was having “problems” …but they didn’t…So it brings up the Question O’ The Day: Why not?
Port Orange man shot by homeowner identified, girlfriend said he struggled with mental issues
An intruder shot dead by a Port Orange homeowner last Thursday while trying to break into the home was released from jail the day before the shooting where he had been locked up for a previous burglary arrest, court records show.
On Tuesday, Port Orange police identified the intruder as Justin Alvaro Dematos, 46, of Port Orange.
But Dematos’s fiancée said Tuesday that he recently started struggling with mental illness and would get disoriented and lost when he went out for walks and show up at strangers’ homes not knowing where he was.
“I just wanted to clarify that he was having mental problems and his mother was coming from Boston this week to take him to a psychiatrist, but we could not get him help in time,” a tearful Maria Alvaro said in a telephone interview.
Warned twice
Police said that on Nov. 16, Dematos approached a home in the 5900 block of Pelham Drive at approximately 12:05 a.m., and tried to break in.
Barking dogs at the home woke up the residents, who heard Dematos ringing their doorbell, police said.
The homeowner, while inside, verbally confronted Dematos who walked away. He then went to the side of the home and reportedly removed the screen to a bedroom window that had been left slightly open, said Port Orange police detective Michael Wallace.
The homeowner verbally confronted Dematos again, asking him what he was doing on his property but Dematos did not respond Wallace said.
Police said Dematos then attempted to enter the home through the open bedroom window and was shot one time by the homeowner, police said.
Dematos died at the scene.
Arrested for burglary the day before shooting
Court records show that Dematos was arrested on Nov. 15, the day before he was fatally shot, and locked up in the Volusia County Branch Jail on charges of burglary of an occupied dwelling and loitering or prowling.
Dematos was booked into the county jail at 12:04 a.m. on Nov. 15 and got out nine hours later at 9:08 a.m. after posting $5,500 bail.
Port Orange police said that at 11:53 p.m. on Nov. 14 they were called to a Fern Cliff Drive home where a resident reported that Dematos rang his doorbell but left after the homeowner did not answer.
As police were investigating that incident, they were called to another neighborhood home where Dematos also had tried to break in, according to court records.
Dematos tried to unlock the front door of that home by tinkering with the electronic door keypad, police said.
Police asked Dematos what he was doing at the homes in the middle of the night. When police asked him if he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, he said he was not, the report notes.
Dematos told police he had gone for a walk in the woods and got lost ending up in someone’s backyard. He admitted to ringing the doorbell and pushing the buttons on the keypad, according to his arrest report.
Mental problems
Dematos did not have a criminal record and his only arrest happened the day before he was shot dead.
Maria Alvaro, who was Dematos’s girlfriend for three years, said she recently noticed that Dematos was acting strange, and even his friends said he was not well, she said.
Maria Alvaro said Dematos would become disoriented and talk to himself and said he heard voices. When she bailed him out of jail on Nov. 15, he told her he had gone out for a walk, and lost his sense of direction and ended up at strangers’ homes.
Maria Alvaro said that on one occasion they were out on a drive when Dematos started asking her who was with her in the car because he was hearing someone else talking to her.
“What I want is for this not to happen to other people’s loved ones and to clarify what happened with Justin (Dematos),” Maria Alvaro said