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Though the suspect, Patrick Falcey, managed to escape from Sherwood Liquor Fair at Spruce Street and Arctic Avenue, police later surrounded his house in Trenton and he surrendered.
Although police said Falcey did the burglary at Sherwood by himself, detectives yesterday continued to hunt for a suspected accomplice believed to have helped him in a spree of recent burglaries at two other liquor stores.
Falcey, 35, of 222 Whittlesey Road, Trenton, is being charged with burglary and is under investigation for burglaries at Liberty Liquors, 966 Parkway Ave., and West Trenton Liquors, 1511 Parkway, according to Ewing Police Sgt. Gregory R. Smith.
Baran wouldn’t discuss the showdown inside his store at 6:15 a.m. Police said they were called to a burglary in progress, and when they responded, Baran told them he’d spent the night on guard sleeping in the store, after a recent spree of liquor store burglaries in the area.
"He was asleep behind the counter when he was startled awake by the sound of glass breaking," Smith reported.
"He activated the store’s silent alarm system and grabbed a can of Pepper Spray and a 9mm handgun. The burglar had his back turned to Baran, unaware of his presence. Baran purposely made a noise so the burglar would turn around and when he did so, he was sprayed in the face with pepper spray," Smith said.
Baran and the burglar struggled, and when the suspect picked up the hammer he’d used to break the front-door glass, Baran squeezed off two shots, Smith said.
"The burglar then made his way to the door saying something about being shot," Smith said.
"The burglar ... pulled himself into his car and as he did so Baran fired two more shots into the engine compartment of the car." But the burglar fled the scene.
Smith reported that Detective Patrick Holt had developed previous information identifying Falcey as a possible suspect in three recent liquor store burglaries, one at West Trenton Liquors, 1511 Parkway Ave., and two at Liberty Liquors, 966 Parkway.
As a result police officers Daniel McGuire and Paul DiGristina rushed to his home on Whittlesey Road in Trenton, and spotted a dark green Mazda with two bullet holes in the driver’s side fender.
More police surrounded the house. "Detective Sgt. John Stemler telephoned Falcey," Smith said, "and convinced him to turn himself in."
He was treated at Capital Health Systems at Fuld for a gunshot wound of the leg, police said. Falcey was being held at police headquarters yesterday, police said. No bail information was available yesterday.
Falcey has a criminal history dating back to 1995, according to the N.J. Department of Corrections website, having served 21/2 years for theft, unlawful taking, distributing drugs on school property and conspiracy, from Jan. 6, 1995 to May 5, 1998.
Detective Patrick Holt and Detective Sgt. John Stemler were busy yesterday finding information on a second suspect in the liquor store burglaries, said Lt. Gerald Jacobs.
"In the West Trenton Liquor job there were two individuals," he said. "And the first time that Liberty Liquors got burglarized, there were some witnesses who saw two individuals in a car matching that description (of Falcey’s dark-green Mazda). So they are following up on that lead."
