18th Avenue Neighbors
12.30am Sunday morning January 11 we experienced an attempted break-in to our townhome on 18th Avenue. We were home upstairs, with the lights on. The door bell at our upper door (split level entry) rang a few times in quick succession, followed by a brief wait, and another few rings. We stayed quiet; discussing whether or not to see what was up.
Shortly thereafter, they tried to kick in our lower door and break the frame. This shook the front of the house and was very forceful. At this point I (Matthew) came downstairs while Tricia phoned 911. I looked out the window and noticed there were two young gang members (confirmed later by police) standing on the sidewalk keeping watch. They were looking down the side of our property at the third man who was grabbing one of our patio blocks. This third man then came around to our lower door and began smashing the block against the window. I then banged on the upper window and flicked the lights on and off to let them know they were being watched and we were home. They did not immediately respond to this, and tried once more to break the window/door.
Eventually the three men quickly headed north on 18th and were approached by the police who then gave chase and were able to catch one. The police recognized the other two as part of the 23rd and Union Street gang (named something very similar). Fortunately our window is not overly damaged; the door frame has slight damage but also held.
We always lock our doors, even when home. We also have compact fluorescent bulbs in our exterior lights (very low energy consumption) by both doors that we leave on 24/7 – all day and all night. This way we don’t forget, and there’s no pattern with the lights being on and off to signal opportunity. The police say leaving exterior lights on is an excellent deterrent, and was the reason the men tried to see if we were home first, which alerted us to the danger. We’ve noticed a lot of the homes in the neighborhood do not leave their front door lights on. Perhaps you’d consider buying some of the compact fluorescent bulbs and leaving your exterior lights on in the future, for your own safety and that of the neighborhood. The utility cost of running these bulbs is negligible. We’re also adding motion detection lights at the side of our property, window blinds have been ordered, and personal protection measures have been taken. Oh, and we’re getting a dog!
The police stated there’s been a spike in gang activity recently. The FBI is now fully involved, and cases are going straight to the Federal level, bypassing the city and state. Additionally, all of these gang members have guns, they live in our neighborhood, and they walk our streets every day.
BE SAFE! And be proactive