7-year-old waits in getaway vehicle while dad attempts robbery

08:11 AM CDT on Friday, July 24, 2009

By Jeremy Desel / 11 News

HOUSTON -- Harris County deputies say a man took his 7-year-old daughter along as he tried to break into an apartment.

But things didn't go as the suspect planned, because the person who lived there -- a former Harris County deputy -- happened to be home at the time.

Dad brings daughter along on robbery

July 23, 2009

breaking of the patio door and he confronted the guy," said J.D. Glesmann of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

The former deputy had just left the department in May.

Glesmann says the former deputy grabbed his gun and fired three shots. Two hit the suspect, who fled the scene in his truck and drove himself to the hospital.

But he was not alone. The suspect’s daughter was waiting for him in his truck and rode with him to the hospital.

                          LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou090723_mp_crook-takes-daughter-to-robber.6e262d82.html

"He is putting her at great risk and that is a shame. That is something that they will consider as they start filing charges on him," said Glesmann.

The girl told investigators that her father threw a bag out of the truck on the short drive to the hospital. In the bag, deputies found a list of apartments at the Toscana complex. They believe they were the ones the man was going to hit.

Deputies say the suspect didn't go far from home. They served a search warrant at a hotel across the street from the apartment complex.

The suspect is in stable condition at an area hospital.

He was hit twice. One of the bullets hit him near his spine.

The little girl is in CPS custody.