VERO BEACH — The Vero Beach Police Department has arrested two men accused of breaking into a home on the barrier island earlier today. The men injured themselves on the shards of window left from where they broke in and left blood evidence at the scene, according to the department.
The suspects were found with multiple scratches on their arms, the department said.
According to the police department, the men, identified as Ryan Patrick Carroll, 30, and Michael Joseph Grant, 25, broke into a home in the 1200 block of Old Doubloon Drive sometime before or around 7 a.m.
Detectives responded to the home shortly after 7 a.m. and discovered a broken window and unsecured door.
They spoke with neighbors who told them the homeowners were away and added that they saw two men leaving the house toward the beach.
The suspects picked up matched the descriptions neighbors gave authorities.
During the course of the investigation, a vehicle a couple houses down was discovered burglarized. Missing from the vehicle was a laptop computer and backpack, which were later recovered near the dunes of the nearby beach.
Officers also found a .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol with a fully loaded magazine and a black baseball cap as described by the neighbors as having been on one of the suspects.
Both the gun and hat had what officers said appeared to be blood on them.
Officers came across one suspect in the area of the 1500 block of Ocean Drive, about three blocks from the crime scene. While officers spoke to him, other authorities found another possible suspect walking westbound on 17th Street Bridge.
Detectives detained the two men for questioning and determined that they were responsible for the burglaries, according to the police department.
Grant and Carroll face felony charges of armed burglary, auto burglary and grand theft.
