A local man is facing charges after allegedly trying to break into his ex-girlfriend’s home by smashing through the bedroom window, according to court records.
Tyeric Oneal, 26, was arrested Aug. 8 on felony charges of home invasion with a weapon, firing a weapon into a building and grand theft. He is being held in the Leon County Detention Facility without bond.
Arrest records say that Oneal had an “on and off relationship” with the victim. The woman and a man were in her room when they heard someone trying to break in around 6:30 a.m. She immediately recognized Oneal, according to the arrest report.
The woman “told Oneal to get out of the window so she could close it,” the report says. “Oneal ignored (the woman’s) plea and snatched (her) phone out of her hands.”
The woman told Tallahassee Police Department officers that she tried to get the phone back, but Oneal punched her in the eye. The man with the woman “grabbed the window and slammed it shut” and told the woman to go call 911, according to court records.
When he went back into the room, he saw Oneal was trying to enter the residence through the window, using the back of a handgun to smash the glass. The arrest report says Oneal fired in the man’s direction, causing the man to fire his own gun while “fearing for his safety and the safety of everyone else inside the residence.”
These shots caused Oneal to flee from the house in the Oak Ridge neighborhood in south Tallahassee, according to police, who later detained him at an apartment in the 2000 block of Bradford Court.
Oneal told investigators that he recently moved out of his ex-girlfriend’s home but had stayed the night there as recently Aug. 5. The night he showed up at the victim’s house, Oneal said another ex-girlfriend had woken him up by dumping cold water on him, and the two got into an argument.
“Oneal explained that he was tired and considered (the) residence his second home, so he drove there,” the arrest report says.
No one answered his knock on the front door, and when his knocks on the window also went unanswered, he decided to open it to try and get in, he told police. He said someone grabbed his arm as he tried to climb in and fired two shots at him, prompting him to shoot in return.
Oneal made his first appearance in court Aug. 9 and has already pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. He’s being represented by the Public Defender’s Office.
Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee man arrested after shootout, break-in at ex’s home