Car Theft Victim from Officer-Involved Shooting in Ocean View Sp – WBOC-TV 16, Delmarvas News Leader, FOX twenty one –
Bethany Drew wields the Infiniti SUV that authorities say 31-year-old Troy Lee Brief of Hurlock, Md. drove into an Ocean View police cruiser and toward other officers before he was shot in the car. Drew said she was checking email in her living room around ten p.m. Sunday when the suspect came to their neighborhood. She said he walked into their home and she very first heard him as she was using the restroom. She said the suspect was walking around her closet, and she assumed it was her hubby or the company they had over for dinner.
“I said, ‘That’s odd, why is he in the closet?'” she recalls. “Then they walked in the bathroom [out of Drew’s view] and I said ‘I’m in here!’ and they didn’t say anything.”
Drew said she then heard the door open and her car commencing in the driveway.
“I instantaneously looked out the window and eyed someone flying out the driveway,” she said. “I knew my hubby wouldn’t be pulling out of the driveway like that unless it was an emergency. I knew something was going on, but I just didn’t know what.”
When Drew went downstairs and witnessed her purse was stolen, she realized her car had been taken as well.
Drew’s hubby, Chris Squires, then got in his own vehicle to attempt and go after the car thief, but stopped when he encountered the massive police presence up the street. Squires says he also spotted a wrecked car at that scene–Squires says one of the other cars the suspect stole.
“We knew something was going on so we turned around, came home and locked the doors and spoke to the cops,” Squires says.
At this point, Squires and Drew say they understood their car was involved in the shooting that took place miles up the road in Delaware.
“I was so worried about the police officers” Drew says. “I was truly worried and hoping no one got hurt.”
Early Sunday morning, Drew says she drove up to the scene to see her car. She spotted it being taken away and said it was visibly bruised from the shooting. Drew’s purse–with her wallet, medications and other necessities–is still in the car, and police tell her she may not have it back for another week. Drew and Squires say it’s an inconvenience but they’re just grateful this incident wasn’t worse.
“If she were to come out of the bathroom and he shoved her in there, we wouldn’t have heard them upstairs,” Squires says.”He could’ve taken her hostage and she could’ve been in the car with him.”
Drew and Squires say they believe the suspect got into the neighborhood by walking through an adjacent golf course, and one of their neighbors had his wallet stolen from the car–presumably by Brief. Drew and Squires said their house is normally locked at all times, but was open Saturday night because their company had just went to get something from their car outside. But now, they’ll be sure it’s always locked and will ensure their alarm system is on. Drew said they may also add blinds to their glass front door.
Drew and Squires said they are under the impression that the GPS system in Drew’s Infiniti SUV helped police track down Brief. As the investigation resumes and they prepare to purchase a fresh car, they’re blessed that is the thickest of their worries at the moment.
“It could’ve gone south so many different ways,” Squires says.”There certainly was an angel outside the bathroom door.”
The Worcester County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incidents leading up to the shooting such as the burglaries, pursue and car thefts, including Drew’s. Delaware State Police are investigating the shooting, which left the suspect, Troy Lee Brief in critical condition at Christiana Hospital.