By Luke Jones, ABC13 Houston
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — An 18-year-old north Harris County man says he had a gun pulled on him after confronting a man who scaled his apartment building and made it to his second-floor balcony.
Gage Price, who moved to the Houston area from a small town in Illinois, said it’s been an eventful week at his apartment complex on Ella Boulevard near Kuykendahl.
The same week as the balcony intrusion, he said his car was broken into. When Eyewitness News visited on Monday, the front gate was wide open.
“It’s really scary knowing that I’m here alone and then my closest family is 14 hours away from me,” Price said.
It’s not clear how the intruder made it onto Price’s balcony. His motion-activated doorbell camera didn’t activate until the man was already at the top.
But there were no ladders in sight when Price’s friend spotted the intruder around 1 a.m. Friday.
“She said that she saw somebody outside. I’m like, ‘There’s no way. Like, what do you mean?'”
When Price peered out the window, he said he saw a man holding his jump pack and attempting to climb down from the balcony.
“He kind of freaks out. He don’t know how to get down,” he said.
Surveillance video shows the suspect hanging from the railing for several seconds before ditching the jump pack and climbing down.
By the time Price made it outside, the intruder was already sprinting through the apartment complex.
Price said he chased him as far as an opening in the fence, but then something stopped him in his tracks.
“He turns around and starts yelling at me in Spanish, and then he had like pointed something at me like this,” Price said.
“What did you think it was?” Eyewitness News asked.
“I thought it was a gun,” he said.
Price said he retreated to his car and called 911.
A short time later, Precinct 4 constable deputies arrested Carlos Arias and charged him with aggravated robbery. ICE has also placed a hold on the Nicaraguan national.
“I don’t know who would think that’s a good idea to climb a second-floor balcony,” Price said.
It wouldn’t be the last uninvited guest at Price’s apartment.
“I had a prostitute knock on my door the day after this happened, which was kind of crazy,” he said.
It all proved to be too much, and now Price says he’s moving.
“What can you do at the end of the day? I mean, it’s Ella Boulevard, so I don’t think anything is gonna become good out of living here,” he said.
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This story comes from our news partner ABC13 Houston.