Pueblo shop owner chases down man who threw a rock through store window

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO)-- A shop in downtown Pueblo now has two pieces of cardboard covering up broken windows, and the man who did it is behind bars.

Celestial Moons owner Ernest Escobar and his wife Twyla, live in an apartment behind the store. While they were sleeping early Tuesday morning they heard the sound of broken glass. Ernest ran to the front of the store to see that someone had thrown a rock through their window.

"I saw him at the end of the block and went after him," Escobar continued. "And I told my wife to call the cops."

While on the phone with the police, Twyla Escobar says the dispatcher told her to tell Ernest not to chase the suspect. But it was too late at that point, Ernest, wearing just his socks, said he chased after the man until police arrived.

"He probably thought he wasn't going to get caught," Escobar says with a chuckle.

Pueblo Police arrested, Brent Maldanado, 48, on charges of criminal mischief. He is being held in the Pueblo County Jail on a $2,500 bond.

Video of the man throwing the rock through the window can be seen and heard on the store surveillance camera. The rock Maldonado picked up was one from the rock garden outside the store.

The rocks are painted by local artists with inspirational quotes. The rock Maldonado threw read, "You don't find your happy unless you create it."

"It's very ironic, that's for sure," Escobar says of the rock being thrown.