PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A man is dead following a botched burglary that turned into a standoff with police and an eventual house fire, according to officials in Delaware County.
It happened Tuesday night in Collingdale. Police said two men broke into the home of 43-year-old Michael Robinson on Rhodes Avenue.
The break-in was caught on a home doorbell camera, which alerted Robinson’s girlfriend. Robinson was not in the home because he is currently incarcerated, but his girlfriend called the police.
“They made us stand a block away while they were negotiating with the guys to come out of the house peacefully — that didn’t work. They shot tear gas in the house,” said Robinson’s brother, who did not want to share his own name.
Then, he said, a fire broke out. One suspect eventually surrendered to police; the other is believed to have died in the fire.
When asked why his brother’s home was targeted, he believed it was because he had nice stuff.
“And people are bums out here,” he said, “so while he’s [incarcerated], they try to take the opportunity to have a little sweet victim.”
Robinson, a former teacher’s aide at Radnor Middle School, is currently behind bars on charges of alleged sexual assault of a minor in Texas.
The Delaware County District Attorney’s Office is investigating this incident.
Another suspect eventually surrendered to police, investigators say
Another suspect eventually surrendered to police, investigators say
