A Central Florida husband used a machete to protect his wife from an intruder Tuesday morning in an encounter that left the intruder dead.
The intruder, identified as Robert Alcade, 31, was pronounced dead at Northside Hospital in St. Petersburg, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.
Before the attack occurred in Clearwater, Alcade’s neighbors reported that he was wandering his apartment complex saying someone was going to kill him, deputies said.
“He was very fidgety, shaking, nervous saying, ‘They are going to kill me, they are going to kill me,’” Steve Lufriu said. Lufriu and his girlfriend woke up to Alcade screaming just after 1 a.m. Lufriu said his girlfriend made the first 911 call for help.
“This guy was looking to rob somebody and I even considered letting him into my home. Thank God I didn’t. Today, I am very thankful that I am alive and still here,” Lufriu said.
A Clearwater police officer investigated but determined Alcade didn’t meet the criteria to be taken into custody under the state’s Baker Act.
About 2 a.m., Alcade broke into a home at 3063 Terrace View Ln. in Clearwater, deputies said. He entered through a window he broke in the front of the home.
A couple asleep inside woke to Alcade in the doorway of their bedroom.
Alcade acted erratically, wrecking the inside of the home and trying to climb the walls, deputies said. He told the couple he’d already called 911 because someone was trying to kill him.
At some point during the break-in, Alcade tackled the wife.
The husband armed himself with a gun but it malfunctioned, deputies said. He took a machete from beneath his bed and began hacking at Alcade’s legs.
Deputies arrived and shocked Alcade about six times with a stun gun, finally taking him into custody.
The couple was uninjured in the attack.
According to the sheriff's office, Alcade has a lengthy criminal history. He was released from prison this past March.
Lufriu said the initial officers responding to his girlfriend’s 911 call should have arrested Alcade.
“I thought, that maybe, if they would've taken him into custody, a lot of this could've been avoided and nobody would've gotten hurt, and that couple wouldn't have had to endure what they endured,” Lufriu said.
