Oak Park man hailed a hero for taking down the bad guys




QUIET PLACE–Key Largo Court in the Montego neighborhood of Oak Park was a considered a safe place to live, until the evening of April 1. What happened at Sal Mercado’s home was no April Fools’ joke.  Photos by JOHN LOESING/Acorn Newspapers

Sal Mercardo is a soft-spoken, 60-year-old insurance salesman from Oak Park. He’s also a 6-foot tall, 185-pound physical fitness buff with biceps and pec muscles that aren’t to be trifled with.

Mercado was being hailed on social media over the weekend as a hero of the community after he punched two burglars who robbed his home and held one of them on the ground until police arrived.

The two men believed to be in their late 20s had broken into his home on Key Largo Court around 6:30 p.m. Fri., April 1 and were headed out the front door with what they thought was a perfect score when at the exact same time Mercado returned from a quick trip to the grocery store and confronted them.

The men were said to be members of a known burglary crew that cases upscale homes in the area and robs them. They reportedly entered the Mercado house through the front door.

“We see these Chilean burglary crews coming in, and it’s become pretty common in the last three to four years,” said Capt. Cameron Henderson of the Ventura County Sheriff’s office.

Many times their crimes are successful. This time, they picked the wrong house.

Mercado told The Acorn that as he returned from a grocery store run to a nearby Pavilions he noticed a suspicious SUV parked on the street in front of his house with a Hispanic male occupant wearing a Dodger cap sitting inside.

Odd, Mercado thought, and as he went to his front door he wasn’t sure what to expect.

“A lot of things race through your mind,” said Mercado, who, as he opened the door, met one of the thieves hustling to get out.

“I just bopped him in the face as he went out. I hit him again and he took off.”

A second man followed the first, but he wasn’t as lucky in his decision to go toe-to-toe with the fit resident who works out regularly at a local gym.

“I saw the second man coming down the stairs. Did he have a gun, a knife?” Mercado said.

HAPPY COUPLE--Sal and Denise Mercado have lived in their Oak Park home for almost 30 years. They weren’t prepared for what happened Friday evening.

Neither intruder was armed, but their operation was well coordinated, the homeowner said. He believes the driver in the getaway car was in radio communication with the two men inside. That’s why they were on their way out at the same time Mercado approached the door.

The scuffle with the second man spilled into the bushes and onto the sidewalk in front of the home.

“I tackled him to subdue him,” Mercado said.

Mercado held the man down and yelled for onlooking neighbors to get help. Someone called 911 and three patrol cars arrived within minutes.

“Kudos to the police department. They were there like that,” said Mercado, snapping his fingers.

During the melee a stolen computer and an expensive camera with extra lenses fell to the ground and were recovered, said Mercado’s wife, Denise. But it’s believed the two men who got away still held valuable jewelry.

DON’T MESS–The burglars didn’t expect they’d meet up with this guy.

“We are all very terrified of the situation,” Denise Mercado said. “They were very brazen to come on a Friday night.

“I’ve lived here for 30 years and there’s never been anything like this,” she said.

Neighbors were shaken, too.

“I didn’t sleep well. I’m frightened,” said one woman who lives across the street but asked not to be identified. “You have guys in the neighborhood running out your front door with your things.”

Mercado said there was a woman who reportedly observed the two men entering his home wearing ski masks, but said she thought the scene might have been just a prank and didn’t call the authorities.

The man whom Mercado tackled was taken away in an ambulance. Mercado was not injured. The two others who escaped in their vehicle are still being sought by deputies.

Sal Mercado said that when the evening began he just wanted to go to the grocery store to buy food for a quiet chicken pasta dinner with his wife. But by the next day he was being applauded by both neighbors and cops as one tough homeowner who managed to beat the bad guys.