ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- A driver passing by on East Colonial Drive and Alafaya Trail early Friday morning saw three men on the roof of a shopping center and called 911.

"By this person calling 911 we were able to prevent two burglaries that wouldn't have been reported until the morning," said Commander Spike Hopkins of the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

The sheriff's helicopter spotted the three suspects on the roof of the Big Lots.

Deputies said the men had cut a hole in the roof of the store and the laundromat next door.

"Since it's so late our concern is that these people were trying to commit a burglary," said Hopkins.

Police do not believe they were after copper, but merchandise and cash from inside stores in the shopping center. Deputies arrested the suspects and they are being held at the Orange County jail.