18-year-old accused of breaking into Collier County home with family inside

Reporter: Lauren Leslie Writer: Paul Dolan
Published: Updated:
Alex Caalpop mug shot. (CREDIT: COLLIER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)

A total stranger walking around a family’s apartment Sunday night and terrorizing them, in Collier County.

The family managed to lock themselves in the bathroom with a bb gun and waited for deputies.

Collier County deputies said Alex Pop, 18, went after the family’s pets and tried to break into the bathroom where the family was hiding.

Even though the invasion only lasted a little over five minutes, the family said it felt like an eternity.

The suspect broke into their home through a bedroom window.

“Protect my family that was really all I could really do at that point,” one of the victims said.

A dispatcher was trying as hard as they could to keep the mother, father, and two-year-old child calm while hiding in the bathroom.

“We’re trying to get there as fast as possible,” the dispatcher said.

“Are we going to get kidnapped? Are we going to get raped? Like what? Are we going to get murdered?” Another victim told WINK News her thoughts during the situation.

“At one point he started counting to 10 and I was envisioning as he’s counting the numbers I was looking at the door just thinking expecting bullets to be flying through at 10,” one of the victims said.

Just about five minutes after it started, the suspect answered the door and that’s when deputies took him into custody.

In the aftermath, there was blood all over the apartment. The victims are just hoping her son will not have this memory at all.

Pop is spending Monday night in the Collier County Jail.

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