By Andy Boyle and Danny Valentine, Times Staff Writers
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Investigators talk outside ASAP Pharmacy, 8609 66th St. N in Pinellas Park, Thursday morning after a suspect was arrested inside the building.
PINELLAS PARK — Police surrounded a pharmacy early Thursday for about three hours after learning that a suspect in an apparent pharmacy burglary was still in the building.
Gun-wielding SWAT team members and canine units entered ASAP Pharmacy, 8609 66 St., about 7 a.m. and pulled out Michael A. Gould in handcuffs shortly after.
But police had a good idea who the 31-year-old was long before that.
Gould, police said, left a backpack and a bike in front of the store. Inside the backpack, police said, were prescription pill bottles with his name on the side. They also found various burglary tools.
Police were called to the pharmacy around 4 a.m. after an alarm went off. Police said a man was spotted on top of the beige strip mall's roof.
Police initially didn't know if he had a gun, but later said he did not.
At first, a tactical team used a bull horn to order anyone inside the building to come out. No one came out.
A SWAT team entered the building, guns drawn, at 7:11 a.m. with a canine unit following. A police dog alerted officers to a ceiling in one of the offices, where they found Gould, police said.
Gould could face charges of burglary and possession of burglary tools, said Capt. Sanfield Forseth. Police said he had a Leatherman knife and some pliers on him.
Forseth said Gould also took a doctor's prescription pad from the pharmacy.
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