Suspicions
Jun. 23rd, 2005 09:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pegkerr[![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
annieways, you should know about this] Last Wednesday, a neighbor down the alley (the block leader, no less) had their house broken into and some jewelry and a purse stolen. What made it particularly galling was that the home owner was in the front yard at the time (the kids were playing in the sprinkler), and their back door was locked. The perp got into the house by taking the screen off an open window. The police, when called, said there have been quite a few burglaries in the city, and people are being urged to keep their doors and windows locked at all times (this is irritating; the heat is supposed to get up to 95 degrees today, and we have no air conditioning downstairs. I worry, too, about leaving the girls alone or playing in the yard when these thieves are brazen enough to enter the house when someone is on the property.)
So a crime alert was circulated, and all were urged to be on the lookout for suspicious activity and call 911 if we saw it.
And sure enough, today I did see something weird and I did call 911.
I was on my way to work with the girls in the back seat, just a couple blocks from my house, and a light was turning red, and so I turned to go up the alley. A guy was walking in the center of the alley, carrying an over the shoulder Nike bag and pulling a wheeled black carry-on piece of luggage behind himself. When he saw me, he dumped the two bags between two garages and walked away.
This seemed weird, and so I stopped to see what he would do. He slowed, looked at me, wandered a little further, and then strolled back and retrieved the two bags.
This seemed even weirder. I followed him, pulling around the corner to watch. He strolled over to a car repair shop and stood at the side of the building, talking on the cell phone. I called 911 and reported it. I had to get to work, so I couldn't learn the end of the story, but the 911 operator seemed to think it sounded strange, too, and said she would be sending a squad car. When I left, two of the mechanics who worked at the car repair shop seemed to be asking him his business, so I hope that even if he leaves before the squad car shows up, they will be able to provide a better description.
Edited to add: I got a call from the block leader, who called the car repair place to see if they knew anything more. They said that the guy asked if he could plug his cell phone in because his didn't have enough of a charge. And then he made a call to someone, and the repair shop guys overheard him moaning on the phone, "You gotta come pick me up! She threw me outta the house with just some stuff in an overnight bag!"
Apparently, eventually someone eventually came and picked him up. Don't know if the cops ever spoke to him first. But it sounds like a classic "Baby, don't!" guy. If it's true, he's definitely having a bad day. Not only is he thrown out of his house, but a suspicious woman calls the cops on him.
Asaome points out, however, this doesn't explain why he initially looked as if he were ditching the bags when he saw me watching him. Hmm.
annieways, you should know about this] Last Wednesday, a neighbor down the alley (the block leader, no less) had their house broken into and some jewelry and a purse stolen. What made it particularly galling was that the home owner was in the front yard at the time (the kids were playing in the sprinkler), and their back door was locked. The perp got into the house by taking the screen off an open window. The police, when called, said there have been quite a few burglaries in the city, and people are being urged to keep their doors and windows locked at all times (this is irritating; the heat is supposed to get up to 95 degrees today, and we have no air conditioning downstairs. I worry, too, about leaving the girls alone or playing in the yard when these thieves are brazen enough to enter the house when someone is on the property.)So a crime alert was circulated, and all were urged to be on the lookout for suspicious activity and call 911 if we saw it.
And sure enough, today I did see something weird and I did call 911.
I was on my way to work with the girls in the back seat, just a couple blocks from my house, and a light was turning red, and so I turned to go up the alley. A guy was walking in the center of the alley, carrying an over the shoulder Nike bag and pulling a wheeled black carry-on piece of luggage behind himself. When he saw me, he dumped the two bags between two garages and walked away.
This seemed weird, and so I stopped to see what he would do. He slowed, looked at me, wandered a little further, and then strolled back and retrieved the two bags.
This seemed even weirder. I followed him, pulling around the corner to watch. He strolled over to a car repair shop and stood at the side of the building, talking on the cell phone. I called 911 and reported it. I had to get to work, so I couldn't learn the end of the story, but the 911 operator seemed to think it sounded strange, too, and said she would be sending a squad car. When I left, two of the mechanics who worked at the car repair shop seemed to be asking him his business, so I hope that even if he leaves before the squad car shows up, they will be able to provide a better description.
Edited to add: I got a call from the block leader, who called the car repair place to see if they knew anything more. They said that the guy asked if he could plug his cell phone in because his didn't have enough of a charge. And then he made a call to someone, and the repair shop guys overheard him moaning on the phone, "You gotta come pick me up! She threw me outta the house with just some stuff in an overnight bag!"
Apparently, eventually someone eventually came and picked him up. Don't know if the cops ever spoke to him first. But it sounds like a classic "Baby, don't!" guy. If it's true, he's definitely having a bad day. Not only is he thrown out of his house, but a suspicious woman calls the cops on him.
As
aome points out, however, this doesn't explain why he initially looked as if he were ditching the bags when he saw me watching him. Hmm.![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-23 03:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-23 03:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-23 03:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-23 03:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-23 05:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-23 04:39 pm (UTC)Our home was burglarized when I was a child; our ancient TV set was taken, so it wasn't a huge loss, aside from the feeling of insecurity and vandalism. Someone must have been casing our house, though, because my mom was away and my dad was watching me; we slept in our house anyway except for that one night, when we'd slept at his house. When we swung by in the morning, the door was ajar.
We (well, where I grew up) live in a relatively safe neighborhood, overall, yet every one of the 8-9 homes on our block has been vandalized at least once over the years.
I love my barking burglar alarm.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-23 05:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-23 05:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-23 05:51 pm (UTC)I wish the cops could have gotten there in time and searched those bags.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-23 05:51 pm (UTC)I think that the world is starting to close in on suspicious characters like this, what with all of the picture phones and people carrying single-use cameras in their glove compartments. Soon no one will feel private walking down the street with luggage!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-24 04:11 am (UTC)Then there was the afternoon when I was mugged on 32nd & Lyndale (this was at least 10 years ago). One of them had a gun, and I had to really work to NOT SAY A DAMNED THING, cuz I was so pissed off I just knew I'd say something stupid.