On Saturday night, March 20th, around 9pm, a homeowner in Fir Ridge (vicinity of 10th Pl SW and 198th Pl SW), who was walking home, noticed a moving light in his house through the window. All of the lights were off in the house and no one was home. The homeowner walked around the front of his house and then around his fence to the side door that enters the garage. That’s where he apparently confronted the burglar. The burglar had entered the house from the unlocked side garage door.
The burglar had a very bright head light on so the homeowner could not see his face. The burglar started yelling obscenities at him and then the burglar shot the homeowner in the leg. Fortunately the bullet hit a Zippo lighter in the front pants pocket and lodged in the lighter’s metal case. The burglar yelled to the homeowner to “back off or he would get more of the same.”
When the homeowner realized he was not wounded, he kept shouting at the burglar, at which point the burglar took off running north on 10th PL to 198th PL SW. There appeared to be just one burglar.
The burglar had taken the flat screen TV off the wall. It appears that nothing else was taken or disturbed.
The neighbor next door heard the gun shot and the yelling, saw the burglar running north on 10th PL, and called 911.
A canine unit came out to the scene. It is not known if the burglar was caught.
Later that evening around 10:15pm a nearby homeowner came home and noticed that the sliding door was ajar, the deadbolt-type pin was popped out, and some computer equipment was misplaced. Also the sliding door in their bedroom was left wide open. Sheriff’s Deputies thought that they came home soon after the burglar entered, because nothing was stolen. They also suspect it was the same person who broke into the first home. Tracking dogs followed his trail for a while and ended on the street, where they think he drove away in a car.
Note: While this is the exception to the rule of thumb that in residential areas burglaries occur during the day and car prowls occur at night, there may be some indicators of why these burglaries occurred when they did. Remember, burglars, car prowlers and car thieves are opportunists, and they don’t like having people around when they do their deeds.
In the first house, no one was home and the lights were out, giving an indication that no one was home. Entry into the home was made easier with the side garage door unlocked.
When you are away from your home, leave a couple of lights on inside to give the impression that someone could be at home. Some people put some of their lights on timers to give the illusion that they are home. Turn on your front porch lights. Motion sensor lights above your garage doors can startle a car prowler or burglar. Use a “Charlie Bar” to prevent strangers from opening your sliding glass doors from the outside. And lock all of your doors, even if you are just going down the street!
Implementing these simple measures should help you from becoming a victim to any burglar, day or night.
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