A broken storefront window at a Mooresville vape shop set off a tense scene this week, ending with police officers applying a tourniquet to a badly bleeding juvenile they found hiding behind shopping carts at a nearby Walmart. The Mooresville Police Department credited a witness’s prompt report with likely helping save the suspect’s life.
According to the Mooresville Police Department, officers responded to a commercial breaking and entering in progress on Tuesday at Race Tobacco and Vapor, located on West Plaza Drive. A witness reported that someone broke the business's front glass window and then fled on foot, a tip that police say set the entire response in motion.
When officers arrived, they found a broken window and what Iredell Free News describes as a substantial amount of blood left behind at the scene. Rather than losing the trail, officers followed it away from the shop and toward a nearby Walmart, where the search for a burglary suspect quickly turned into something closer to a medical emergency.
Suspect Found Hiding Behind Shopping Carts
Inside the Walmart, officers located the suspect hiding behind shopping carts near the front of the store, per the same account. The juvenile was suffering from severe blood loss caused by multiple lacerations, injuries serious enough that officers moved immediately from searching for a suspect to treating the injured juvenile.
Officers applied a tourniquet on the scene to stop the bleeding before Mooresville Fire-Rescue and Iredell County EMS personnel arrived and took over further medical care, the outlet reports. Given the extent of the injuries, the suspect was then transported to Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Main.
Juvenile Charges Pending Release From Hospital
Police confirmed the suspect is a juvenile. Juvenile petitions and criminal charges are expected to be filed and served once the suspect is released from the hospital.
North Carolina law treats breaking and entering seriously even at the misdemeanor level. Under North Carolina General Statute 14-54, wrongfully breaking or entering any building is a Class 1 misdemeanor, the baseline charge that can apply in cases like this one before any additional circumstances are factored in.
Police Credit Citizen's Call With Saving a Life
The Mooresville Police Department specifically thanked the citizen who promptly reported the incident, saying the call likely helped save the suspect's life. It's a detail that underscores how a routine break-in call turned into an urgent rescue.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the Mooresville Police Department at 704-664-3311. Details on the suspect's exact medical condition, the precise circumstances behind the lacerations, and whether charges have since been filed were not included in the department's statement.
