Dear PoP – Columbia Heights Assault and Home Invasion

Photo by PoPville flickr user julianne’s

“Dear PoP,

On Friday night at about 1 AM, our roommate returned to our Columbia Heights group house to find a stranger hanging out in the entrance to the basement apartment. After asking him to leave, our roommate was assaulted by the stranger and two other men who had been hiding behind him. They choked our roommate until he was unconscious, stole his keys, wallet, iPhone, and work Blackberry, opened the front door of our house, went into the first floor bedroom, stole a laptop, and left through the back door before anyone could report them to the cops. Fortunately our roommate recovered quickly and was not seriously injured, and no one was on the ground floor when the house was invaded. The incident is being investigated.

A few lessons learned:
-invest in security systems, like motion-activated floodlights and alarms
-don’t leave valuables in view, as home invaders are likely to grab the first thing they see
-always back up files and password protect your hard drive
-make sure you know the serial numbers of your electronic devices as well as any other information you can use to track them, and report them as stolen immediately
-change all your passwords right away if something like this happens
-our friends were asleep in the downstairs apartment, unaware there were strange men right outside their door; always lock the outside gate if you have one

PoP readers take note: just because a neighborhood is “gentrifying” doesn’t mean it’s safe. Be careful!”