Public Safety

Customer thwarts an alleged kidnapping attempt outside Target in Rockville

By Dan Morse
June 11, 2021 at 6:35 p.m. EDT

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Police arrested Daniel J. Belcik, 26, of no fixed address, in the incident and charged him with assault, attempted kidnapping, kidnapping and resisting arrest. At a brief court appearance Wednesday, Belcik was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation at the Montgomery jail. The attorney who represented him, Christopher Duffner, declined to comment.

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Reached in Texas, Belcik’s father, Norman, said his son has suffered from schizophrenia and has been homeless in recent years, popping up in Austin, Oregon, Washington state, Idaho, Louisiana, Mexico and now Maryland. ... “We had no idea where he was,” said Norman Belcik, who expressed relief his son was being held in what for him was a safer place. ... “Hopefully they either put him in a mental hospital or incarcerate him because he’s no good in society right now,” the father said. “He cannot be let out on the streets anymore. That’s just common sense. We’re lucky. The girl is lucky. Everybody is lucky here.”

Norman Belcik put blame on his son — for constantly refusing to take medication, for what he is alleged to have done in the parking lot — but had strong words for the nation’s mental health apparatus as well. Daniel had been in and out of hospitals, he said, and repeatedly released too soon. He said he begged hospitals not to release his son.

“Mental illness is terrible,” Norman Belcik said. “And that’s what we’re dealing with here. But these hospitals need to not let these guys out, we pay our taxes for that reason. They’re letting people out on the streets and then they’re wondering why crap like this happens. Don’t let him out. He ain’t ready.”

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Alice Crites contributed to this report.

By Dan Morse
Dan Morse covers courts and crime in Montgomery County. He arrived at the paper in 2005, after reporting stops at the Wall Street Journal, Baltimore Sun and Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser, where he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He is the author of "The Yoga Store Murder." Twitter https://twitter.com/morsedan