KENT, Wash. — People in a Kent neighborhood say one man is terrorizing them with repeated break-ins and prowling. They say he is brazen and not afraid of their cameras.
At least a half-dozen neighbors in the past couple of weeks have caught the same man on video either breaking in, or trying to.
Sharon Patterson said she got a notification on her Ring camera while she was at work May 16, of someone in her backyard.
“I was livid,” she said. She yelled through the camera for him to leave – which scared the suspect off -- but then he came back just a few minutes later.
“I’m furious. I feel violated, and I can’t get to him. That’s what makes it even worse,” Patterson said.
He used a lighter to burn a hole in the screen of her window, and ripped a hole in another screen to try to get inside, but wasn’t successful.
A few days later, on Sunday, the suspect apparently got more brazen.
Another neighbor’s surveillance video caught what looks like the same man, again snooping in the backyard.
Then the video shows him picking up a large rock and smashing the patio door.
“It was terrifying,” said the woman who lives there.
With the suspect still out there, her family didn't want to talk on camera or share their names publicly.
They say they came back home to broken glass in their kitchen after church Sunday, and then saw the large rock.
“It’s disturbing you know? I haven’t been able to sleep,” she said. “You look over your shoulder a lot more and that’s not the way to live,” she said.
She said the suspect got away with “not much,” because a Kent police cruiser came by about 20 minutes later -- which she thinks might have scared him off.
But people say the suspect has been terrorizing the whole neighborhood
“The past week and a half he’s been spotted on four people's property and broken into three houses,” said Jason Le, who has been working to organize the neighborhood to better keep watch.
In a third neighbor’s case, you also see the man in the backyard, pressing his face to the glass and peering inside.
In yet another case, a neighbor was home when the man entered his backyard. The man grabs his flashlight and chases the suspect away, shouting, “Do you f------ understand? Get the f--- out!”
Neighbors say they're sure he will strike again.
“I’m like scared to go to work. I want to stay home just to make sure nothing happens to my house,” Le said.
Kent police have shared the suspect’s photo, and neighbors are too - saying they want you to take a good look.
“He has to be stopped,” Patterson said. “I won't be a hostage in my own home, I won't,” she said.
They're worried that next time he'll become more violent.
“I’m scared someone is going to be home and you know -- an elderly lady or gentleman that can’t protect themselves. What’s going to happen then? Is he going to cause harm to them and then take everything they have?” Le said.
Le said he knows of one case in which the suspect got into a home and got away with armloads of stuff -- including a laptop and backpack.
But Kent Police said they've only had reports of break-ins in which the suspect did not take anything after going inside. They say either way -- if you see that man, give them a call.
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