An armed Florida homeowner hid in his own closet to confront a squatter who took over his home while he was in New Zealand for seven months.

The unidentified Ocala homeowner told authorities he returned to his property on Spring Lake Road on June 9 and found it trashed and burglarized, saying several items were missing.

He then devised a plan to confront the alleged squatter himself, spending the night sleeping inside a closet inside his home.

When the man’s alarm went off at 8am the next morning, the homeowner said he saw the squatter — who has been identified as 26-year-old Ze’Moye Brown — peeking inside.

He then allegedly fired a shot at his front door in an attempt to get Brown to leave.

According to an affidavit obtained by FOX 35, when the homeowner came face-to-face with the man who had been squatting at his home, he shouted at Brown to leave.

But the two soon began to argue about who actually owned the home, Marion County Sheriff’s deputies say. 

At that point, the affidavit says, the homeowner used his Beretta handgun to fire a shot at his front door in an attempt to get Brown to leave.

He did, but called the police saying he was shot and claiming he owned the home.

Sheriff’s deputies eventually tracked down Brown and found he had been in possession of a rock-like substance, which tested positive for methamphetamine, and marijuana.

He was arrested on charges of misdemeanor trespassing, misdemeanor possession of marijuana and felony possession of a controlled substance without a prescription. 

Brown later allegedly told authorities he had been living at the home for ‘a few months’ and that hew as the only person staying at the house.

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He claimed the windows and doors to the house were unlocked when he first arrived at the home, which he said was vacant for three years.

But Brown denied stealing the items that the homeowner reported missing. 

This is not the first time Brown has been arrested, however, with records obtained by DailyMail.com showing he has a criminal record going back to 2014. 

He has previously been arrested on grand larceny, resisting a police officer and other trespassing charges.

In 2020, Brown was also charged with giving a false name to law enforcement when a sheriff’s deputy pulled over a car he was a passenger in that reeked of marijuana.

Brown told the deputy at the time that his name was ‘Jack Barnes,’ and he had no middle name, according to Ocala News.

When the deputy asked for his Social Security number, he said he did not know it.

Brown further claimed he was from Mississippi, had only been in Florida for a few months and had no Florida driver’s license or other means of identification.

But when the deputy said he could not find any records of a ‘Jack Barnes,’ Brown admitted his real name, saying he gave the officer a fake name because he believed there was an active warrant out for his arrest.

There was, and Brown was once again booked into jail. 

He is now being held on a $4,000 bond.

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk