A suspect in Gloucester, Massachusetts remains at large after stealing a man's wallet on Saturday.
It may be hard to track the suspect down, however, considering the suspect is a seagull.
But at the very least, the stolen wallet has been returned to its rightful owner after the seagull dropped it on a roof on Main Street in Gloucester.
Phil Peterson and Mike Ramos braved the birds to recover the wallet, which belonged to Brian Fines of Rhode Island.
The wallet had been stolen off the top of a pizza box. After it was dropped on the rooftop of a nearby building, two baby seagulls flocked over to the wallet.
"There were two baby seagulls right there literally trying to eat the wallet," Peterson said.
Peterson, who was using a cherry picker to hang lights in the area, volunteered to recover the wallet. He tried to distract the seagulls by throwing bread, but instead, they turned their attention to Peterson.
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"It was like the movie, Birds," Peterson said. "I was afraid they were going to pick by brains."
Ramos went up to help, but not before borrowing a flashlight from a police officer.
"I took the strobe part of the flashlight and he [Peterson] went on the roof and every time they tried to go after him, I would shine it at the seagull and it would discombobulate them," Ramos said.
The birds were befuddled enough for Peterson to sneak by, grab the wallet, and come back down.
"There's a whole crowd at that time and they're giving him the thumbs up and it was just the craziest thing I ever saw in my life," Ramos said.
The ordeal has changed the way Peterson views seagulls.
"Yeah, every time I hear one I get PTSD," he said.
Reached over the phone, Fines said he hopes to repay Peterson and Ramos soon.
