A vigilant neighbor confronted a thief in his underwear and made him cry

Overflowing insecurity in the Greater Buenos Aires area has once again made headlines. This time, in El Palomar—a locality in the Morón district—a resident decided to take justice into his own hands and confronted a thief who was attempting to steal the wheel and battery from his car. The incident occurred on Tuesday at 1:57 a.m., during the polar cold wave affecting the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires (AMBA), and was fully captured by a security camera.

Far from being an isolated episode, these types of situations are occurring with increasing frequency in Buenos Aires province, governed by the disastrous Axel Kicillof, whose inaction in the face of the growing crime wave forces citizens to expose themselves in self-defense.

In the footage, recorded by security cameras and broadcast by the media, it can be seen how a criminal carries the wheel and battery stolen from a parked car. Seconds later, from a house located directly across the street, a man bursts out barefoot and in his underwear. Despite the extreme cold, without hesitation, he lunges at the criminal with a phrase as direct as it is revealing of social exhaustion:
"Give me the wheel and the battery," he demands.

The thief, far from being intimidated, responds brazenly:
"I'll give you the wheel, but not the battery."

The response was immediate: the resident grabbed him by the jacket and knocked him to the ground with a punch. Within seconds, the criminal was already immobilized and pleading for forgiveness through tears, while the resident, still agitated, walked in circles. Another family member joined the scene and struck the criminal with a beer bottle.

Several neighbors peeked out to see what was happening, until, minutes later, the community alarm sounded. Finally, a police car arrived to arrest the thief.

The scene, which seems taken from an Argentine tragicomedy, highlights a much harsher reality: the lack of provincial government presence, the uncontrolled crime, and the desperation of residents who, in the absence of concrete responses, find themselves forced to defend what is theirs with their own hands. The incident not only underscores the resident's courage but also the utter failure of a provincial security policy that, under Axel Kicillof's leadership, leaves citizens to fend for themselves.