Jared Lightle, a groom in Joplin, Missouri who was renewing his vows with his wife of one year, ended up going after a thief who took off with wedding gifts after the ceremony.
According to The Joplin Globe, Lightle was putting a gift in his car when his mother alerted him about the theft. Lightle saw the man when she pointed him out and could see wedding cards in the man’s possession. He called out to the thief, but was ignored as the suspect kept walking away.
In order to alert others to help him, Lightle called out, “Stop! Thief! Stop!”
Luckily, police officers happened to be nearby finishing their work on a traffic accident. As the suspect was running, bystanders at the accident site pointed him out to the officers.
The groom reportedly said, “If we hadn’t caught the guy, it would have ended an otherwise perfect celebration on a very bitter note.”
The Associated Press reported the vow renewal happened on Lightle’s first anniversary with his wife, Stephanie, where they had married in a courthouse before Jared went on deployment to Afghanistan. The wedding, held last week, was the one they planned to have once Jared came home.
The groom also said of the event, “I guess we’re going to have a very unique wedding story to tell the rest of our lives.”
The thief, 31-year-old Rosario Caruso, was booked on charges of trespassing, larceny, and resisting arrest.