ORCAS ISLAND, Wash. – San Juan County sheriff's officers say a break-in early Sunday at an Orcas Island hardware store may have been the work of 18-year-old Colton Harris-Moore, suspected of being the notorious "barefoot bandit."
Police say at about 5:30 a.m., there was a break-in at the Ace Hardware Store in Eastsound. When police arrived they found a broken window, but nothing was taken.
The rooftop entrance into the store was foiled by a new alarm.
Jeff Troutman’s lived on Orcas Island for years. He heard the unusual early Sunday morning.
“As first we heard that helicopter. It just kept circling the town so we knew they had to be looking for someone,” he said.
Police deployed a K-9 tracking unit and launched an air search, but they were unable to find a suspect.
Investigators believe the evidence suggests that Colton Harris-Moore is the prime person of interest.
Erin McCarthy moved here form the Midwest.
“People are locking their homes and worrying about their businesses,” she said.
McCarthy’s business is just feet from what’s now a crime scene. She saw the news on the internet.
“We looked a little more and found out my shop is across the street, and came down and looked around and nothing," she said.
“I don’t understand how a young kid like that can do all this and not be caught,” said resident Joan Bowyer.
Harris-Moore recently drew headlines after investigators believe he stole a plane from Anacortes and piloted it to Orcas Island on Feb. 10. A grocery store was later burglarized. Footprints were drawn on the floor.
Some call Harris-Moore the "barefoot bandit." Others just want him to have a new title: "captured."
“We’re waiting word that he’s caught, but we haven’t heard that,” said McCarthy.
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