Police arrest 4 teens in burglary after neighbors report suspicious activity

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Four men are behind bars, suspected of stealing from their neighbors, and their arrests were made possible by other neighbors calling the police when they saw something suspicious.

This all unfolded Sunday, on the city's west side. Police said this is the perfect example of how the community and police can come together to solve crimes.

John Nowak left his home for two hours on Sunday. When he came come, he found the back door kicked in and that his stuff had been taken.

"I just knew something was going on because I could just feel these guys watching me for a couple days before that, and maybe a lot longer than that," said Nowak.

South Bend police arrested four teenagers at the home across the street. According to police, Eddie French, Darnell Haynes, James Micken, and Lamarko Joseph has the stolen goods with them when they were caught., including multiple TVs and several handguns belonging to Nowak.

"I don't want nobody getting hurt with these weapons, but at the same time, thank God, that the police were here to take this and get this all underway and hopefully recovered them," said Nowak.

The police were able to recover the guns and said they were called by several neighbors who witnessed suspicious activity.

"Your neighbors watch out. If you don't get along with your neighbors and your neighbors don't watch out for you, you really don't have anything going on," said Nowak.

The home across the street from Nowak was also broken into on Sunday. Two of the young men are suspected in that burglary as well.

Nowak said even though crime is high in the area, the people living there are trying to fight back.

"The people who are the homeowners in these neighborhoods want to clean these neighborhoods up and be able to raise their children like you used to be able to do in these neighborhoods. That's what they want and that's what they are fighting for, and that's why we stand up for each other," said Nowak.

Even though police are confident they have the right guys, they are not done investigating yet. Now detectives are comparing the four suspects fingerprints to other unsolved burglaries in the area to see if they pop up in other crimes as well.