Madfloridian's Journal - He stole a pair of hedge clippers and hid inside an empty mobile home.

He brought on the wrath of the county Sheriff's Department, the SWAT team of the city police, and a hovering helicopter. Someone called it in as an emergency to 911.

DAVID MILLS/LEDGER PHOTOS
Polk County sheriff's deputies and Lakeland Police SWAT officers walk Old Dixie Highway following a standoff with an armed man who was barricaded in a mobile home at Tower Manor Mobile Home Park near Lakeland on Thursday. The suspect, 26-year-old Moises Torres, surrendered after a four-hour standoff in which tear gas was fired into the home.

Standoff ends peacefully

About noon Thursday, a 911 call brought deputies to a mobile home park off Saddle Creek Road between Lakeland and Auburndale, where a man had been seen stealing a pair of hedge clippers. The man, later identified as 26-year-old Moises Torres, ran into a home at the Tower Manor mobile home park, sheriff's spokeswoman Carrie Rodgers said.

Torres lives in a home on Tower Manor Drive, but he ran into another home and wouldn't come out, Rodgers said. He was armed and had been drinking, she said.

No one else was inside the mobile home, Rodgers said.

It took tear gas emptied into the home, a hovering helicopter and about four hours of coaxing from law enforcement officers before Torres walked out the front door and surrendered, Rodgers said.

Torres was arrested and charged with grand theft, Rodgers said.

Helicopters? SWAT teams? Grand theft for a pair of hedge clippers?