Campbell teen hides during burglary

Staff report

campbell

A terrified teenager hid in the basement at her Penhale Avenue home while two burglars ransacked the house, police said.

Detective Sgt. John Rusnak said Friday police had no leads on suspects in the Thursday afternoon home invasion.

Rusnak said the 14-year-old girl’s ordeal started shortly after she arrived home from school at 2:20 p.m.

She heard knocking, looked out the window and saw two men standing there, he said. She didn’t know the men, and she didn’t answer the door, he said.

He said the men pulled the screens off the porch windows and tried to get in the windows but could not. They kicked in the front door, and the girl fled to the basement, he said.

“She was scared to death,” said Rusnak.

While she was in the basement, she called her mother, who was away from home. Her mother rushed home, calling the police as she did so, Rusnak said. Police got that call at 2:47 p.m.

She pulled in the driveway behind the men’s car and walked in, confronting them in her daughter’s bedroom, the police report says.

Rusnak said the mother was unsure why the men were in the house. She said her daughter was hysterical, and she didn’t completely understand the situation.

She followed them out of the house, and they pulled a gun on her and told her to go back inside, which she did, Rusnak said.

Rusnak said the men backed their car around the mother’s and drove off.

They stole a wallet with $140 in it. One of the men is tall with a thin build, and the other is average height with a medium build, and both are in their early 20s, the police report says. They were driving a tan or cream-colored Dodge, possibly a Charger, Rusnak said.