Quick thinking and a cooperative effort among law enforcement agencies landed three Union Springs men in jail Thursday night.

According to a press release from the Opp Police Department, 34-year-old Thomas Junior Adams; 28-year-old Michael Deon Streeter and 22-year-old Princeton Tayron Taylor allegedly burglarized an apartment at the Carriage House apartment complex on Barnes Street.

When officers arrived at the scene, they learned that an apartment tenant had confronted three masked men armed with handguns as she was walking up the stairs to her apartment.

Reports indicate that the tenant fled from the scene, and OPD patrol units canvassed the area to find the suspects.

Opp Police Chief Mike McDonald said a state trooper, working with Covington County Sheriff’s deputies, was conducting a safety checkpoint on U.S. Hwy 331 near Lake Grocery when the trio came through. McDonald said the trooper contacted the OPD shift supervisor to inform them that the three were acting suspiciously during the stop.

McDonald said the shift supervisor informed the trooper that an investigation was ongoing at Carriage House Apartments, gave a description of the wanted men, and they were detained at the scene.

Inside their vehicle, officers located two handguns, a large quantity of cocaine, marijuana, money and items from the victim’s apartment.

Assistant Chief Kevin Chance told The Star-News that the three allegedly took a laptop, tablet, cash and a watch from the residence.

The three are charged with first-degree burglary and second-degree theft of property.

Streeter is being held in the Covington County Jail on an $820,000, while Adams and Taylor are being held on a $600,000 bond.

The Drug Task Force also charged Streeter with possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Chance explained that the trio was not charged with robbery since nothing was taken from an individual, but instead from inside a dwelling.

In Alabama, a person commits burglary in the first degree when he enters or remains in a dwelling knowingly and intentionally with the intent to commit a crime and is armed with a deadly weapon.

First-degree burglary is considered a Class A felony, and carries no less than a 10 year sentence and no more than life or 99 years; however if a deadly weapon, more specifically a firearm, was used in the crime, the conviction will be 20 years minimum.