— The tall young man was carrying a knapsack and a gun, and by the time
the security guard at the marina caught up with him, he was at a dead
run.
“They’re after me. They’re after me. They’re going to kill me,” the boy yelled as he disappeared up a staircase.
There could be no doubt that it was
Now, at close to
Harris-Moore came back down the stairs, jumped into a 30-foot boat
belonging to a marina visitor and roared away, but quickly ran aground
in the shallow water. Police moved in and shot at the engine, bringing
the boat to a halt and, finally, leaving the 19-year-old youth with
nowhere to run.
Harris-Moore threw his laptop and iPhone into the water and briefly held the gun to his own head, said
manager of the resort, who was nearby. “He was saying he was going to
kill himself,” she said. “But they talked him out of it, subdued him,
and brought him back to our marina.”
There have been more serious crime sprees —
Harris-Moore when he wasn’t snatching an expensive getaway vehicle
mainly stole Gatorade, potato chips, hot dogs and showers from
unoccupied homes and corner groceries — but few in recent years have
been as widely watched.
Known as the “Barefoot Bandit,” Harris-Moore burglarized his way across rural western
for much of his young life. His first conviction, for possession of
stolen property, came at age 12. His latest spree began in 2008 after
he escaped from a group home in
Harris-Moore has often eluded sheriff’s deputies by mere moments, disappearing into the thick forests of the
before they could clinch his capture. He catapulted to international
fame in recent months after apparently teaching himself to fly and
expanding his range into
On
returned home late one night to find a tall, naked young man — later
identified as Harris-Moore — just finishing a meal and a shower.
“He chased the burglar into the basement, when the
subject pointed a laser at him and threatened to shoot him if he did
not leave the house,” said Sgt.
On
in water about 3 feet deep. A little over 11 hours later, police there
say, a home nearby was burglarized and a car stolen. Six other nearby
homes and businesses have been burglarized in the days since, police
told local news reporters.
The latest theft was a 44-foot-long power boat stolen from a marina.
Reports of Harris-Moore sightings swirled across the island and nearby
“The suspect in an effort to evade capture engaged
police in a high speed chase by boat,” Ellison Greenslade, commissioner
of police for the Royal Bahamas Police Force, told reporters in the
Bahamian capital of
Officials for the FBI, which had offered a
“My understanding is they want first crack at him for the charges they have there in the
On
“We’re all very glad he’s been caught,” said
“He was a thief. A thief who violated all of our
senses of security in our homes, our businesses,” she said. “I’ve come
out of the front door of my home late at night to sheriff’s deputies in
my yard, telling me to get back in my house; they were trying to track
him down. Well, that’s a little unnerving to live like that. …
“He’s victimized numerous people who came into our
store daily. Many of them repeatedly,” she said. “They would no sooner
replenish whatever he stole, and he would strike again.”
But outside of the Northwest, the 6-foot, 5-inch
Harris-Moore’s renown grew, expanding with each stolen boat or plane
abandoned in a field. His fans on Facebook grew to more than 68,570.
“Wish I could live a life so free,” said one of a large number of mournful comments posted after the teenager’s capture.
“This cat has done more at age 20 than most of us
ever will, love him or hate him, he has had quite the adventure and I
wish him well!!!” said another.
Ward said she got the call from Stachan about
that a boy who appeared to be Harris-Moore had just pulled up in a
skiff at the marina. She and the dockmaster rushed to the scene and
disconnected the electrical wires on the skiff so it couldn’t be used
for an escape.
That’s when Harris-Moore returned to the marina and
fled in the 30-foot powerboat, with the dockmaster and police in hot
pursuit.
“Our boats roared up on either side of him, and he was captured,” she said. By
“It’s definitely sad,” she said. “There ought to be a lot more to life. The poor young man.”
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