Police dogs combed through a Center Grove area neighborhood, and deputies fanned out looking for a man they said broke into homes and vehicles and then fired a stolen gun.
Just after 7 a.m. Sunday, police were called to the Villas, a neighborhood near Fairview and Peterman roads, when a resident reported a man kicked in a door and came into her home. The intruder ran out the front door when the resident found him standing inside her home, according to the police report.
During the next 45 minutes, police were called to multiple homes in the neighborhood where vehicles had been broken into, garage cabinets were ransacked, a gun was fired, and a man was seen walking between homes.
Just before 8 a.m., police spotted a man trying to enter another home and arrested him.
Vincent A. Matracia, 28, 3522 Country Walk Drive, Indianapolis, was arrested on charges of burglary, criminal recklessness, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, residential entry, theft and unauthorized entry of a motor vehicle.
The first call to police was from a woman in the 700 block of San Ricardo Drive, who said a loud noise from her garage woke her up. She went to investigate and found the door to her garage had been forced open. Then, in her home, she found a man wearing glasses and a black sweatshirt. When the intruder saw her, he ran out the front door, and the resident called police, the report said.
Police also got a call from another homeowner in the 700 block of San Ricardo Drive, who said two vehicles were broken into, and someone had stolen a laptop and gaming system from inside the home, Sheriff Doug Cox said. Police suspect the thief was inside the house while the homeowner and children were home, Cox said.
A police dog searched for the man but was not able to find him.
While police were talking to the resident, they heard a single gunshot south of her home, and a few moments later police got a call from another resident about a block away, the report said.
No one was injured.
A woman in the 600 block of San Carlos Drive told police she had seen a man walking in the street, who then went between two houses. She found two bags outside her garage door, which were not hers, and the cabinets in her garage had been rifled through, the report said.
Deputies searched the area and found a man, wearing glasses and a black sweatshirt, trying to get into a home across the street, the report said. They arrested Matracia.
Matracia had a gun that had been stolen from a truck in the 400 block of Tara Circle, just south of where Matracia was arrested, the report said.
Deputies asked Matracia where he had broken into vehicles and where the gun discharged, according to the report. Matracia was cooperating with investigators, Cox said.
Matracia was being held at the Johnson County jail on $82,000 bond.
