Man maced by suspected thief at Cape Coral Home Depot recounts events

A normal day of shopping ended up getting David Beguhn maced in the face on Wednesday. Walking into a Home Depot in Cape Coral, Beguhn noticed something odd with a customer.

“As I was walking in the door, I heard one of the employees asking a gentleman for his receipt,” Beguhn says. “And between the tone of voice between the two of them, I could see there was a disagreement there.”

Beguhn says the man told the employee to mind his business and kept walking. Since Beguhn spent more than three decades in law enforcement, he decided to act.

The plan was peaceful and simple according to Beguhn, “My intention was never to engage with him. All I was going to do was follow him to his vehicle, grab the description of the vehicle, the license plate, and call the Cape Coral Police Department.”

Beguhn says the suspect zig-zagged in and out of the aisles of this parking lot. Then the suspected thief confronted Beguhn and took action.

“He threatened me and told me to leave. And I told him, ‘I’m just walking. I’m not going to touch you’. And then at that point is when he said, ‘well here, have some of this mace’. And then shot me in the face with it.” Beguhn recounted.

Unfortunately for Beguhn, trying to do the right thing didn’t go well for him. The mace went in both of his eyes. “It’s painful, it gives you like a really bad sunburn, a first-degree burn,” Beguhn told us.

Because Beguhn had been maced as part of his career in law enforcement he powered through and got the man’s license plate number.

Beguhn ended up maced and even still resolutely knew to act. “To watch someone blatantly stealing from a store right in front of your face. It was hard to stand still,” Beguhn told us.

Beguhn said he went home and showered off and is doing fine now. Home depot told police the man got away with more than $1,100 dollars worth of equipment on Wednesday. Police say they believe they know who the suspect is and they’re working on getting a warrant for his arrest.