Man in custody after Albany apartments evacuated (UPDATE: Video Added)

ALBANY, Ga. — The knocks on the door at apartment 1603 didn’t bother Angela Mason in apartment 1604 at Wild Pines. But, the shattered glass got her.

“I saw a man out there knocking on the door. When I heard boom … boom, I got really scared,” Mason said. “I went in the bedroom and called the police.”

While a burglar climbed into the Wild Pines apartment next door to Mason at about 11:35 a.m. Wednesday, the Albany Police Department rushed to the complex off 600 Sands Drive.

Officers arrived and spread out across the complex. To follow safety procedure they evacuated Mason and her daughter along with other residents in the building. Police did not know if the burglar was alone or if he was armed.

Trapped inside, Terrance Holiday, 26, had nowhere to go. He took cover in the attic. His arrest was just a matter of time.

Police surrounded the building. The only exits from the attic were through the apartments front doors. At first it was thought there were two men involved in the burglary, police said.

Through a bullhorn at about 11:55 a.m. an officer said, “The two black males in the attic, please come down. We have the place surrounded.”

The attics in the apartment complex run the length of the building’s four apartments, said a neighbor who did not want his name used. They have a cardboard-like partition that anyone could push through, he said.

Nowhere to run but the length of the building and back, Holiday stayed in the attic breaking through the partitions. A ladder was delivered by the Albany Fire Department.

Officers climbed into the attic and quickly handcuffed holiday before taking him to the Law Enforcement Center and later the Dougherty County Jail.

The ordeal for residents didn’t end. Following through on the possibility that there were two men involved, officers were stationed inside each apartment watching the only exits from the building. After making a through search of the attic, the apartments and their closets, police found no accomplice.

“That is a negative on the second suspect,” said Phyllis Banks, police spokeswoman after the search.

Standing on a rain-soaked sidewalk, a man who did not want his name used, said “It is dark up in those attics. Man I wouldn’t want to have to go up there after anybody. I’m glad the police are here to do it.”

Other agencies that responded to the emergency call were the Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office, Dougherty County Police and the Albany State University Police.