WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A West Palm Beach father recalled for WPTV the terrifying moments that he was confronted by a gunman in front of his wife and baby.
"I heard somebody knock on the door," Lazaro Hernandez said. "When I opened the door, it was my friend with a gun to his head. Somebody was pointing a gun to the head."
A gunman, later identified as Marcos Duquesne, 33, forced his way into Hernandez's West Palm Beach home Wednesday.
It was just one in a chain of crimes that police said stretched across Palm Beach County.
Hernandez feared the worst after the man demanded money and his car keys.
"He opened my wallet. I had no cash in it and he got a little mad," Hernandez said. "He told my wife to move because I don't want to see what's going to happen and then he just left. He ran away."
Once Duquesne took off from the Bradley Street home in West Palm Beach, police said, it was only 14 minutes later when he struck again, taking a Mercedes on Ardmore Road.
However, it was after a failed carjacking attempt the gunman made his way to Alabama Avenue, where police said he forced a FedEx driver to take him to Jupiter.
"Couldn't believe it," Maureen Paglia said. "Could not believe that this area would have something like that."
She said she saw police cars swarm the area near Jupiter Beach Road.
Witnesses would then hear multiple gunshots fired near Jupiter Beach Park. Eventually, SWAT and negotiating teams were able to get their man taking him into custody without any injuries.
Paglia said she simply doesn't feel as safe anymore.
"Nowhere -- schools, churches, no matter. You're just not safe anywhere," she said.
Her friend Judy Dow agrees with her.
"I always felt safe, but I don't now," she said.
Duquesne was taken into custody.
No one was hurt in this hours-long crime spree.