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Dear PoPville – Frightening Break-in Yesterday in Ft. Totten
Dear PoPville,
Yesterday around 10 am on the 5100 block of N Capitol St, NW my wife was giving our 8 month old a bath when someone rang the door bell 3 times, she disregarded it thinking it was a voter visit or Jehova’s witnesses. While she was upstairs someone opened our screen door in the front of the house and jumped through the window, grabbed the keys off of the kitchen counter and attempted to steal the car parked out back. Luckily the person wasn’t successful because it didn’t seem like they knew how to drive a stick. They backed the car out in the alley, could get it going and fled.
My wife didn’t realize what happened until she came downstairs and saw the back door open and the car out of its spot and in the alley. The police came and fingerprints were taken.
Terrifying.
Category: Crime, Ft. Totten
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The next time I buy a car, I’m getting one with a stick!
Its actually an interesting idea that I have mentioned to a few ex-cops I know. Though they have no statistics to support it, they say cars with manual transmissions are much less likely to be stolen…
i’ve seen statistics on this before, broken down by ward even. maybe they don’t keep track of that anymore….
I could’ve sworn I saw something about this within the past few weeks, maybe in the New York Times or the Washington Post. Will see if I can locate the article in question…
“Stick Shift Foils Carjackers”
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Stick-Shift-Foils-Carjackers-148390395.html
Ah, that sounds right. I think someone posted it on Facebook.
I once had an equally terrifying experience. I DID answer the doorbell and it WAS Jehovah’s Witnesses!
Sorry could not resist. Heart goes out to the victim’s here. Honestly.
Thats scary. What do they mean by opened our screen door then jumped through the window? I’ve also learned the hard way, even if you’re home you can’t open your ground level windows unless you have bars
I ALWAYS answer the door. I just never OPEN it. I peep out the curtained sidelight, tell the crackhead sorry, smile and say no thanks to the church ladies, tell the political campaign workers no hablo ingles, whatever. But I always let the people ringing the doorbell know that I am at home.
Yeah, me too, but it’s always embarrassing when you find out that the campaign workers DO speak Spanish!
Actual LOL!
but there was a breakin at N. Cap and Bryant on Wednesday where two residents were shot, and a home invasion in (I think) Bloomingdale earlier this year when a woman was held hostage/injured when she answered the door and people came in. So answering the door isn’t a great solution either. I’d rather be stolen from than shot.
wait….that’s in my neighborhood (n.cap/bryant). do you have any more details? i haven’t seen anything on this.
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Two-Shot-in-Northwest-DC-Home-Invasion-151816625.html
The story isn’t very detailed, but DCist mentioned it in their morning roundup. I agree that while this OP’s wife had a frightening experience, I think a home invasion where the victims were shot are what qualifies as “terrifying”!
I was reading somewhere that the advice is now that people shouldn’t answer the door in, for example, the middle of the night (unless they can answer through the doorglass and/or security door, without actually allowing access), but should do something like turning on a light so that would-be thieves know they’re home.
I would call _that_ story terrifying. This account is more… lesson learned or cautionary tale. Scary, hardly terrifying.
This is indeed alarming.
I don’t entirely understand the scenario, though. The person opened the screen door and jumped through the window? What’s the connection between the door and the window? Did the interior door have a window, the the guy jumped through it?
Or did the guy remove a window screen and enter via an unlocked window?
Maybe it’s like one of those barn doors that opens in two parts, so the top part was open like a window, but the bottom part was closed? I dunno, that’s kind of a long walk, but it was the best I could come up with. Were the keys visible so that whoever it was could see them through the window door?
Anyway, glad no one was hurt. That’s scary stuff.
had the same confusion. I feel a Jessica Fletcher moment coming on!
“…opened our screen door in the front of the house and jumped through the window.” So does this mean it was not locked.
Why would a woman alone, with a baby, not lock her doors all the time.
House rule for us is simple, doors are always locked no matter what. If you leave the floor, go out back, or need a bathroom break – windows better be on security and doors are always locked.
Happy to know neither was hurt but consider it a good lession learned.
Thank you for your support, hon.
Yeah – I don’t bleme the victim – I blame the piece of crap that broke in. When my wife is home alone I always ask her to use the alarm. It is a pain but just safer. Unfortunately, it is the world we live in, or some of us anyway.
I’m thinking the OP miswrote and meant to say “screen window”–sounds like she may have had the window open, the intruder popped out the screen, and then climbed through the open window. Otherwise it makes no sense.
Buy a stick. Our house was robbed, keys taken and the cars. Found the one w/ the manual the next day 2 blocks away.
Lesson to car thieves – make sure you know how to drive the car before you try to steal it because unless you wear gloves you will leave fingerprints…..
Very scarey! Glad no one was hurt! This reinforces to me the importance of my habit of always keeping all doors locked, even when home, as well as bar-less windows. I always answer the door, but tell the ppl I can’t open it due to my aggressive large dogs (which are at that point barking like mad). They always leave quickly.
Interesting to hear about the stick-shift issue…
Sorry I didn’t write the account correctly. It was our screen window that he opened in front part of our house.
Thanks for the kind and supportive messages this neighborhood is awesome!