Burglar found hiding in vent on top of shopping center

Police swarmed a shopping center after a prowler triggered an alarm at Chuck E. Cheese Monday morning.

One person was hauled out of the nearby Target in handcuffs.

Colorado Springs police Sgt. Cory Dabb says the suspect scaled the back wall at Chuck E. Cheese just before 2 a.m. and got inside, possibly through a roof hatch. After pillaging the pizza chain looking for cash -- leaving behind thousands of dollars in damage in his wake -- he climbed back up onto the roof, which connects Chuck E. Cheese, Target and several other businesses in the Academy and Union shopping center.

Officers spent the next couple of hours searching the shopping center before another tripped alarm gave away his hiding place.

"We also started getting roof hatch alarms on top of Target, so that indicated to us that the suspect had gained access to the roof from Chuck E. Cheese, so we were able to shift our containment and eventually locate one suspect hiding inside a vent," Dabb said.

"It looked like an air vent, had some chicken wire that he had to actually pry down and crawl underneath and hide in. It's probably 6 feet by 4 feet. He was complaining of some injuries -- he had some scratches on him, obviously, from the chicken wire, but no major injuries."

Dabb told 11 News the roof hatch over Target was locked, so the suspect was never able to get inside the store.