The owners of an Ontario home targeted twice by thieves in less than a month are speaking out, describing how they used baseball bats and a fire extinguisher to repel the second home invasion, which police believe targeted their vehicle.
Around 4 a.m. on Thursday, the owners of a home in Oakville, Ont., awoke to loud banging and glass shattering as several suspects allegedly broke in through the back door of their house on Brookfield Crescent.
They jumped out of bed and rushed out of the room, carrying baseball bats which they had on hand because of a similar incident three weeks earlier. The homeowners said they found four or five people dressed all in black knocking things over in their home.
“We went to scare them off — and that’s when a shot fired off,” one of the homeowners said. “It hit the wall thankfully, no one got shot, but at that point in the chaos (another member of the household) ran out, fire extinguisher in hand, spraying it all around and I think in that chaos they got scared and started to run.”
Global News has agreed not to identify the homeowners as they fear for their safety after their home was targeted twice by alleged home invaders.
Their story matches the report Halton Regional Police issued on Friday. A news release described an Oakville home invasion where a gunshot was fired, glass was broken, and the alleged thieves were disturbed by the owners of the house.
Police said they were still seeking to identify all the suspects involved, but said they had arrested a 20-year-old man from North York, who was in the basement of the home when officers arrived.
“One of them got confused and ran down the stairs into the basement, instead of out the door they came in,” the homeowner explained. “We took that opportunity, chased after him, trapped him in the basement, pinned him down and waited until the police came.”
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Halton police said no one was physically injured and nothing was taken during the home invasion.
Three weeks earlier, the homeowners said there had been another break-in at their home, this time through a bedroom window. In that instance, the suspects carried hammers, according to the homeowners, who said they fought them off with a coat rack.
After that experience, they said they took baseball bats and a fire extinguisher to their room. They believed they were weapons they could use in their own self-defence without risking a charge.
The home invasion in Oakville comes a week after a similar, unrelated incident in Vaughan, Ont.
In that case, York Regional Police were called to a home around Teston Road and Pine Valley Drive, where a group of suspects allegedly tried to steal a vehicle.
Police said the homeowner spotted suspects and called the police, firing a gun. The suspects took off on foot and left the vehicle behind, with five of the six arrested.
The resident — a 35-year-old man — was charged with firing a weapon, possession of a dangerous weapon, careless storage of a firearm and unauthorized possession of a prohibited, restricted weapon.
After he was charged, Ontario Premier Doug Ford appeared to sympathize with his situation and suggested Canada needs to consider American-style self-defence laws.
“These thugs came up, ready to steal his car, they are all in their masks and everything. So I guess he was a hunter or something, he shot up in the air — I don’t recommend that, by the way,” Ford said at an unrelated event this week.
“But he gets charged. I got to find out this guy’s name and number, and I’m going to hold a fundraiser for lawyer fees for him. He should get a medal for standing up.”
He continued: “It’s like down in the U.S., we should have the Castle law. Someone breaks into your house, and they’re coming after your kids and your spouse, you’re going to fight like you’ve never fought before. You’re going to use anything.”
In the United States, the Castle law is a legal principle allowing people to defend their homes using means up to and including lethal force if necessary.
Later in the week, Ford acknowledged it was a “good point” the man was allegedly not allowed to own a gun, but said it was ultimately “neither here nor there” when it comes to the issue of residents fearing someone could “kick the doors in at 2 a.m.”
The homeowners in Oakville said they wanted to see bail laws in Canada reformed and raised concerns about defending themselves.
“We can sleep at night in our locked rooms and everything, but you’re not safe then, you can’t even defend yourself fully in this country, and it’s very sad,” they said. “We’re very shaken up.”
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