Young mom gets a scare when man breaks into house, tries to enter bedroom

Staff report

WARREN

A young mother got the scare of her life Wednesday afternoon when a man broke into her house on Oak Knoll Avenue Southeast and nearly got into the bedroom where she was hiding with her 5-week-old child.

The 21-year-old woman called police just about the time the man broke the glass on the rear door of the house and entered about 12:22 p.m.

She told the dispatcher the man, described as having a dark complexion, about 5-foot-10 and thin, wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt, dark pants and white tennis shoes, was trying to open the bedroom door.

Officers raced to the home, which is near Youngstown Road, and the first officer arrived within a minute of the call, four more arrived within one more minute, but they were unable to find the man.

They searched the area for someone matching the suspect’s description but couldn’t find him.

About seven minutes after making the call and a few minutes after officers went inside and told the woman that the house was safe, the woman told a dispatcher that she was shaken up but OK, according to a log of police-radio comments.

The woman told police the man stood on the front porch of her house for about 15 minutes ringing the door bell, then went to the rear door and knocked on it.

She didn’t answer it, but when she heard him kicking in the door, she locked herself and the baby in the bedroom and called 911.

The man tried to turn the door handle but didn’t make it in.

When officers arrived, they set up around the house, but the suspect apparently had gotten away. Nothing appeared to have been taken, the woman said.

The woman’s husband, who also received a call from the woman, arrived at the home a short time after police did and said the couple had moved in only a short time ago and that his wife was “very much shaken up, but everythng is OK.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Warren police at 330-394-2521.