Luis Vargas-Perez, 24, of Canadian, was arrested early Sunday morning following a break-in at the Kyle Northcott home on Sixth Street.

Video cameras at the home showed Vargas-Perez attempting to open the front door around 4 am Sunday, before picking up a chair on the front porch and throwing it through a window, shattering both the window and storm window.

Kyle said his wife, Janis, had awakened him when she heard noises outside.

“Janis had been hearing noises for about 10 minutes before that,” he said. “He was actually across the street at a garage apartment, banging on that door. I heard three really loud bangs, and that’s when I grabbed a firearm and went down the stairs.”

By the time Kyle got to the first floor, Vargas-Perez had come back across the street and broken the windows.

“I told Janis to call 911,” he said, “and confronted him at the window. I yelled at him to get off my porch. He immediately started moving that direction. As he went down the steps, I told him to get down on the ground, and he did.”

“He did exactly what I asked him to do,” Northcott said, clearly relieved, “and I’m so glad.”

A Hemphill County Sheriff’s deputy arrived quickly on scene, and while Northcott kept the gun trained on him, cuffed the intruder and loaded him in the patrol car.

Vargas-Perez was booked into Hemphill County Jail on second-degree felony charges for burglary of a habitation.

Sheriff Clapp said Vargas-Perez was heavily intoxicated that night, and had no obvious reason for choosing the Northcott house. While incidents like this are uncommon here, Clapp said there has been an increase in the number of people just walking or hitchhiking through town. He urged the public to be more cautious.

“Lock your cars and houses up,” he said. “Don’t leave valuables in your vehicle at night.”

Upon surveying the damage to their property the next day, the Northcotts discovered that the intruder had also gone into their back yard, and up on the deck, where he turned over several chairs. He also broke a license plate frame off one car, and bent up a big metal star on a Texas flag painting on the garage.

Asked on Monday how he and his wife were feeling, Kyle said all was fine, but admitted, “Yesterday was kind of nerve wracking. I came close to shooting him. When I saw who he was, I realized my daughter went to school with him.”

The Northcotts have already taken steps to install a home security system.