Barefoot Bandit ‘was armed’ when arrested in Bahamas
Witnesses say Colton Harris-Moore, 19, was talked out of killing himself when captured after allegedly crash-landing stolen plane
James Meikle and agencies
A teenager celebrated as a folk hero in parts of the US after allegedly carrying out a series of non-violent crimes was armed when he was captured by police yesterday, it has emerged.
Colton Harris-Moore was prepared to shoot himself rather than be caught, according to one account of the capture in the Bahamas of the fugitive believed to be the Barefoot Bandit, so-called because of the naked footprints left at crime scenes.
The 19-year-old, suspected of having stolen cars, boats and at least five single-engined planes during a two-year spree across the US, became an internet celebrity months ago. One fan on Facebook dubbed him “Jesse James without the murders”.
Witnesses on the island of Eleuthra recognised Harris-Moore and called police days after he is said to have crash-landed in the archipelago, having stolen a plane in Bloomington, Indiana.
Shots were fired in the chase, according to police commissioner Ellison Greenslade at a news conference in Nassau, although he did not say who fired them. Another senior police official, however, told the Associated Press news agency, that police had fired to disable the motor on the suspect’s stolen boat. Harris-Moore threw his gun in the water. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said police recovered a laptop and a GPS locator.
Harris-Moore was flown to Nassau in shackles. He was shoeless when he left the plane wearing camouflage cargo pants, a short-sleeved shirt and a bullet-proof vest. He has been blamed for thefts in the Bahamas and authorities say he faces prosecution there before any extradition proceedings.
Harris-Moore, 6ft 5in tall, escaped from a halfway house in Washington state in the US in 2008 and is accused of burglaries across Washington, British Columbia and Idaho. He is also suspected of stealing at least five planes, including the aircraft in which, it is claimed, he flew more than 1,000 miles to the Bahamas despite no formal flight training.
In February someone who broke into a grocery store in Washington’s San Juan Islands drew cartoonish, chalk-outline feet on the floor. Through it all, website supporters grew into tens of thousands. On Facebook, fans posted disappointed messages after his capture, while others promoted T-shirts and bags with the words “Free Colton!” and “Let Colton Fly!”
Island police had been searching for Harris-Moore since he allegedly crash-landed the plane on the island of Abaco, where he was blamed for at least seven burglaries. The search expanded to Eleuthera after police there recovered a stolen 44ft-long powerboat.
Police said several people reported seeing the teenager last Wednesday between Eleuthera and Harbour island, but did not know about the Barefoot Bandit until discovering a series of break-ins the next day. Harris-Moore’s mistake was to return to the same area.
James Major, who rents cars on Eleuthera, said locals had been on the lookout since the fugitive was blamed for trying to steal four boats and breaking into buildings at the ferry landing. “He might have been dangerous to the public,” Major said. “Everybody is glad he was caught.”
According to police, the high-speed chase began around 2am yesterday morning after they received tip-offs from the public. It ended in the waters off Romora Bay resort and Marina on Harbour island, where a security official Kenneth Strachan reported seeing a young man running barefoot with a handgun, according to Anne Ward, who manages the property.
“When Kenny spotted him he had a knapsack over his shoulder and a gun and he was yelling: ‘They’re going to kill me. They’re going to kill me.’ He was running up the dock.”
Ward said the man ran back to the water and stole another boat, but ran aground in shallows, where police shot out his engine. “At one point, the boy threw his computer in the water and put a gun to his head. He was going to kill himself. Police talked him out of it.” Police would not say whether Ward’s account was accurate.
Harris-Moore grew up on Camano island in Puget Sound, 30 miles north of Seattle. His mother, Pam Kohler, has said that he had a troubled childhood. His first conviction, for possession of stolen property, came at the age of 12. Within months of turning 13, he had three more.
Kohler has previously defended her son, saying allegations against him were exaggerated and hoping he would flee somewhere without an extradition treaty. Yesterday she had no comment.
Victims of Harris-Moore’s alleged crimes were more forthcoming. “These people that support him, they’ve never been violated by having him break into their homes or businesses,” said Joni Fowler, manager of a cafe near Seattle where Harris-Moore is accused of taking up to $1,500. “Just knowing he has a huge network of supporters makes me really worry about the state of this country.”
The US attorney’s office in Seattle said it would seek to extradite him to Washington state once he had faced charges in the Bahamas.
U.S. Teen Known as ‘Barefoot Bandit’ Arrested in Bahamas After Cops Shoot Out Boat Engine
Published July 12, 2010 6:27am EDT | Updated
- July 11, 2010: Colton Harris-Moore, the teen fugitive dubbed the “Barefoot Bandit,” is escorted by police in handcuffs, shackles — and his bare feet — to a facility in the Bahamas. (AP)
NASSAU, Bahamas — For two years he stayed a step ahead of the law — stealing cars, powerboats and even airplanes, police say, while building a reputation as a 21st-century folk hero. On Sunday, Colton Harris-Moore’s celebrity became his downfall.
Witnesses on the Bahamian island of Eleuthera recognized the 19-year-old dubbed the “Barefoot Bandit” and called police, who captured him after a high-speed boat chase, Bahamas Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade said at a celebratory news conference in Nassau, the capital.
Greenslade said shots were fired during the water chase but he did not say who fired them. He also said Harris-Moore was carrying a handgun that he tried to throw away.
Another senior police official, however, said police fired to disable the motor on the suspect’s stolen boat, and that Harris-Moore threw his gun in the water. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case, also said that police recovered a laptop and a GPS locator from the suspect.
Police flew Harris-Moore in shackles to Nassau. True to his nickname, the teen with close-shorn hair was shoeless as he walked off the plane wearing short camouflage cargo pants, a short-sleeved shirt and a bulletproof vest.
Harris-Moore is blamed for several thefts in the Bahamas in the week since allegedly crash-landing a stolen plane there, and Bahamian authorities said he will be prosecuted for those crimes before the start of any U.S. extradition proceedings.
The 6-foot-5-inch Harris-Moore had been on the run since escaping from a Washington state halfway house in 2008. He is accused of breaking into dozens of homes and committing burglaries across Washington, as well as in British Columbia and Idaho.
He is also suspected of stealing at least five planes — including the aircraft he allegedly lifted in Indiana and flew more than 1,000 miles to the Bahamas, despite a lack of formal flight training.
Some of his alleged actions appeared intended to taunt police: In February, someone who broke into a grocery store in Washington’s San Juan Islands drew cartoonish, chalk-outline feet all over the floor.
Through it all, his ranks of supporters grew. Some of his more than 60,000 Facebook fans posted disappointed messages Sunday, while others promoted T-shirts and tote bags with the words “Free Colton!” and “Let Colton Fly!”
Even someone in the Bahamas had mixed feelings about his arrest.
“I feel like it would have been good if he got away because he never hurt anybody, but then he was running from the law,” said Ruthie Key, who owns a market on Great Abaco Island and let Harris-Moore use her wireless Internet connection July 5.
“He seemed very innocent when I spoke with him at the store. I don’t think he’d hurt anybody,” Key said.
Island police had been searching for the teen since he allegedly crash-landed the plane on Abaco, where he was blamed for at least seven burglaries. The search expanded to Eleuthera after police there recovered a 44-foot powerboat reported stolen from Abaco.
Police said several people reported seeing the teenager Wednesday night in the waters between Eleuthera and Harbour Island, a nearby tourist destination known for its art galleries, but did not know about the Barefoot Bandit until after discovering a series of break-ins the next day. Harris-Moore’s mistake was to return to the same area.
James Major, who rents cars on Eleuthera opposite Harbour Island, said a witness on his side of the channel reported a sighting of Harris-Moore to police early Sunday. He said locals had been on the lookout since the fugitive was blamed for trying to steal four boats and breaking into two buildings at the ferry landing.
“He might have been dangerous to the public,” Major said. “Everybody is glad he was caught.”
Greenslade said the high-speed chase began around 2 a.m. Sunday after police received tips from members of the public that the suspect was on Harbour Island.
The chase ended in the waters off the Romora Bay Resort & Marina on Harbour Island, where security director Kenneth Strachan reported seeing a young man running through the bush barefoot with a handgun, according to Anne Ward, who manages the property.
“When Kenny spotted him, he had a knapsack over his shoulder and a gun and he was yelling, ‘They’re going to kill me. They’re going to kill me.’ He was running up the dock,” Ward said.
Ward said the fugitive ran back to the water and stole another boat but ran aground in the shallows, where police shot out his engine.
“At one point, the boy threw his computer in the water and put a gun to his head. He was going to kill himself. Police talked him out of it,” Ward said.
Police declined to comment on whether Ward’s account was accurate.
Harris-Moore is a skilled outdoorsman who honed his abilities growing up in the woods of Camano Island in Puget Sound about 30 miles north of Seattle.
Harris-Moore’s mother, Pam Kohler, has said that he had a troubled childhood. His first conviction, for possession of stolen property, came at age 12. Within a few months of turning 13, he had three more.
Kohler has defended her son, saying the allegations against him are exaggerated. She previously told the AP that she hoped he would flee to a country that doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the United States.
Reached early Sunday at her Camano home, Kohler said she’d heard the news about the arrest but had no comment.
Victims of the crimes Harris-Moore is accused of were happy to see him in custody.
“These people that support him, they’ve never been violated by having him break into their homes or businesses,” said Joni Fowler, manager of a cafe on Orcas Island north of Seattle where Harris-Moore is accused of taking as much as $1,500. “Just knowing he has a huge network of supporters makes me really worry about the state of this country.”
Fowler said she hopes Harris-Moore’s arrest and upcoming court appearances will pop his mystique and fame — “once everybody figures out he’s no God.”
Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle, said that once Harris-Moore faces charges in the Bahamas, her office would seek to extradite him to Washington state and coordinate with local jurisdictions about how his case would proceed.
“There are obviously many jurisdictions that would like to prosecute him,” she said.
Shauna Snyder, a private investigator on Whidbey Island near Camano, said she set up a legal defense fund for Harris-Moore at the request of his mother. She said that although she didn’t know how much had been raised so far, the fund has been getting donations.
‘We’re not dying tonight’: Canadian family recalls dramatic rescue as their boat ran aground in the Bahamas
Jon WoodwardOpens in new window
Published: July 05, 2025 at 7:35AM EDT
A Canadian couple’s dream voyage of working remotely on a sailboat while showing their eight-year-old daughter the world came to a sudden end earlier this week when their vessel was blown off course and ran aground on a coral reef.
Tony Bryant, Krista Scholl, and their daughter Adelaide are lucky to be alive after a dramatic rescue by the U.S. Coast Guard off an island in the Bahamas, as they huddled in a life raft as waves battered their boat and they frantically signalled for help.
“It’s something that will stick with me the rest of my life, as [my daughter] turned to me and said, ‘Dad, are we going to die?’” Byrant recalled in a video call with CTV News from Inagua Islands.
“I said, ‘Not tonight, kiddo, we’re not dying tonight,’” he said.
It took years of working in Toronto, saving, and personally repairing their vessel, Mischief, to seaworthiness to make the family’s liveaboard life possible, Scholl said.
“We were part of the downtown Toronto rat race for nine years before we left to travel,” said Scholl.
By 2023, they started living on Mischief full-time and set sail through Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence River, and then south along the U.S. Atlantic Coast.
All the while, they worked remote jobs from the sailboat’s deck and documented their life on Instagram with the username @sailingfamilymischief.
It was an incredible opportunity for their daughter to experience what the ocean had to offer, they said.
“Every place we’d go to was something different. There were dolphins jumping off the bow, so we’d learn about dolphins,” Bryant said.
On Sunday, the family embarked from Acklins Island in the Bahamas, heading for Betsy Bay on Mayaguana Island, with a final destination of the Dominican Republic.
But as they cruised south of Plana Cays, they found themselves sailing into the wind, Bryant said. They tacked but ended up being blown northwards.
“There was a series of events and very quickly we went from 500 feet of water to 100 feet of water, then all the way down to five – all within a mile,” Scholl recalled.
The sailboat, which has a six-foot keel, ran aground. The family tried to right it, but it began taking on water rapidly. They deployed the life raft and put Adelaide in it.
It was impossible to retrieve much from the sailboat – it was taking on water too fast, Bryant said.
“Everything happened so quickly,” Bryant said. He put the anchor down, tied the raft to the boat, and started making distress calls on a handheld radio.
They didn’t know this at the time, but a passing ship had heard the calls and radioed the U.S. Coast Guard with their position. And when the couple saw their helicopters approach, they used their flares to signal their position.
“That was the most amazing noise I’ve ever heard, that helicopter approaching,” Scholl said.
The U.S. Coast Guard’s video shows a diver dropping from the helicopter and assisting as the family is put in a basket and hauled up to the helicopter.
“We held on, and I’m sure it was very scary for Adelaide because of the noise and the spray and the whipping water,” said Scholl. “At that point, for me, it was the moment where I could say, ok. We’re going to be ok.”
The family is alive and grateful to the Coast Guard. Almost everything they owned is in the ocean, along with the vessel that was their home for more than two years.
Right now, they are staying with Bahamians, who are giving them clothes and food. One struggle is to find replacement passports, as many of the primary documents, like birth certificates, were lost.
“Our challenge is to get identification so we can fly, or anything, so we can fly back to Canada,” Bryant said.
The family has started a GoFundMe fundraising campaign to pay for costs in the Bahamas, and for the costs of getting back to Toronto.
As for whether they’ll try to return to a liveaboard life, the family says they’re not sure.
“We lived our life on the boat, and we loved the community that we were a part of. I can’t imagine going back to regular land life. But that’s a question for later on,” Scholl said.
“We want to rebuild something. It won’t be Mischief, unfortunately. Sadly, she’s not to be salvaged at this point, but, you know, that doesn’t mean there’s not another Mischief out there.”
