FORT WORTH, Texas — Students at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth scored big helping police track down an attempted burglary suspect.
The students had been plagued for weeks with repeated incidents that many of them eventually caught on camera.
The Fort Worth Police Department arrested Alex Alvarez, 25, on Wednesday, Feb. 28, in relation to the attempted burglary. Police said officers responded to a suspicious person call near the 3100 block of Sandage Ave on Sunday, Feb. 25, when a resident reported to police that two men had attempted to enter their home.
TCU police released a surveillance photo of the suspect, later identified by police as Alvarez, who was apparently armed during the attempted break-in. The photo was provided by a student who captured the attempted burglary on his surveillance camera.
TCU Junior Chris Cook and his classmates learned they weren't the only victims.
"Everybody was getting pretty nervous," said Cook, "and when he tried to get into the house across the street we were like something needs to be done."
Cook shared that's when more students started monitoring their cameras and collecting more videos. One of the videos shows the same suspect on another porch with his dog. He even took a seat on their patio furniture as they were sleeping.
Often the students would learn about their uninvited guest the next day from video alerts sent to their cell phones.
Sam Banks is also a junior at TCU. He is convinced that the video made a huge difference in their case, especially since they decided to share it with authorities.
"Without that, we would have had no idea what was going on in the back. So, we are thankful for sure," Sam Banks said.
Ashton Bartolucci is attending TCU from California. His parents have been keeping up with what's happening in their TCU neighborhood from out of state, especially his mother. Ashton had been parking his pickup truck in the back driveway, but every time he did it was targeted by thieves.
Now that there are so many videos of the same man in their neighborhood attempting to get into different homes, he suspects the same man caught on camera more recently targeted his pickup truck.
"I walked outside in the backyard in the alley and my truck as you see the hubcaps are missing. I am not sure what his objective was for that, maybe sell the parts," said Bartolucci.
The students kept sharing videos with police because they were determined to have something done about the suspect who kept returning to the area.
"We were able to do some surveillance with the footage that we had, we were able to track him. Our officers engage him during a traffic stop," said Fort Worth Police Officer T. P. Carter.
During Alvarez's arrest, officers confiscated a handgun he was seen carrying in one of the videos. Since there is another man caught on camera in some of the videos with Alvarez the investigation is not over. Fort Worth Police anticipate there could be additional arrests in the cases.
"We are just glad to have him away from us," said Cook.
As Fort Worth Police and officers at the TCU Police Department continue their joint investigation, the students plan to stay vigilant and continue looking out for each other.
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