DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — A suspect in a carjacking trying to elude sheriff’s deputies decided to break into an apartment in an apparent attempt to hide. It wasn’t a good decision.
A 57-year-old woman who lives in the apartment ordered her two dogs to attack the man, forcing him to break a small glass window in the second-floor apartment and climb out, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office says in a news release. He was later taken into custody after a long standoff when he was found hiding in a warehouse.
Now Anthony Galloway, 42, is facing charges of armed carjacking, armed robbery, grand theft, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, resisting an officer without violence, burglary of an occupied dwelling with battery, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, criminal mischief, and trespassing. Galloway also had active warrants out for theft and violation of probation. He is being held without bail in the Volusia County Branch Jail.
Authorities say Galloway is accused of stealing a person’s car at gunpoint at a BP gas station at about 8:23 a.m. Monday. The victim told authorities that the armed suspect told him to “keep pumping the gas or I will shoot you.” The suspect then drove off in the silver Toyota Corolla.
The Corolla was later found at the apartment complex’s parking lot. Authorities say Galloway began banging on the door of the woman’s apartment and was yelling “Momma.” When the woman cracked the door open, he forced his way inside, knocking her backward, and slammed it shut, the sheriff’s office says.
When the woman realized Galloway was a stranger, she ordered her dogs, described as pit bulls, to attack, forcing Galloway to flee out the window.
A witness told deputies they saw Galloway run to a nearby warehouse. Officers tried for nearly an hour to get Galloway to surrender before members of a SWAT unit forced open the door of the warehouse and arrested him just before 11 a.m., the sheriff’s office says.
Meanwhile, the firearm investigators believe was used in the carjacking was found at about 4 p.m. by a 7-year-old boy in a nearby apartment complex, the sheriff’s office says. The boy accidentally fired the gun and the bullet went into an unoccupied apartment. There were no reported injuries.
Galloway was taken to Halifax Health Medical Center for treatment of cuts likely caused by him climbing from the window of the apartment to escape the dogs, the sheriff’s office says.
The sheriff’s office says Galloway has a long criminal history that includes 67 prior felony charges with 12 convictions.
