Squatter with 6-Foot Python Shoots Into Neighbor's Home: Police

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA -- Fairfax County Police say that a homeless man who broke into a vacant home in the Pimmit Hills neighborhood shot into a neighboring home in the middle of the night Monday.

The man, Michael Stride, allegedly broke into a vacant house in the 2000 block of Cherri Drive (see map below), where police later found several guns plus a 6-foot python, according to police.

Police say that Monday at 4:12 a.m., a resident reported that someone had apparently fired bullets into the residence and that the bullets appeared to have come from an adjacent home which should have been vacant.

Officers arrived and found a 35-year-old man apparently “squatting” in the adjacent home, police said. Further investigation and the execution of a search warrant revealed several handguns and a 6-foot Python inside the home.

Stride, of no fixed address was arrested and charged with shooting into an occupied dwelling. Animal Control responded and took custody of the snake. The investigation continues.