Kim Dennis was home last week, when a relaxing day turned into a frightening one as she witnessed a man trying to break into her home.
“Oh I was petrified,” she said. “I knew the guy wanted in. I didn’t know if I should confront him and let him know I was home or if he had a weapon and I would be injured.”
Dennis lives in a townhouse complex on Whitman Road in Kelowna’s north Glenmore area.
She was at home watching television around noon on Aug. 28 when someone rang her doorbell.
Still in her pyjamas, Dennis decided not to answer the door. But she looked through her peephole when the doorbell kept ringing.
She didn’t recognize the man standing at the front door so she didn’t open it.
Shortly after, she noticed through her window that the man had gone around the side of the house. He started banging on the French doors to her dining room at the back before he tried to break in.
“He was prying at my door,” Dennis said. “I heard the noise of the wood and the prying at the back door and I started panicking.”
Dennis hid in a corner at the front door and quickly called 911.
“All my blinds were closed so that he could not see in and didn’t know if I was in or not,” Dennis said.
The man eventually left – he was either scared off, or he just gave up trying to pry the door open.
The attempted break-and-enter was just one of three calls made to police that afternoon – and all from the same neighborhood.
The homes were actually broken into in the other two cases.
One of the homes that was broken into is located on McTavish Road, where $15,000 worth of property was stolen. In that case, a suspect was captured on the home’s security camera.
READ MORE: Kelowna home robbed, suspect caught on video
Police believe the man in the video may be responsible for both the break-ins that day as well as the attempt to enter Dennis’ home.
After seeing the security video, Dennis has no doubt that it’s the same man.
“I just could not believe that someone else had video footage of the same guy and I am certain it was him, I saw him in broad daylight,” Dennis said.
While relieved that her ordeal ended happily, Dennis hopes that the suspect is caught so that no one else experiences what she did.
“Nobody should feel afraid in their house during the day, during the night, afraid for their kids, afraid to open their door,” Dennis said. “That is not fair.”
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