Two teenaged girls are recovering after a stranger broke into their Nanaimo, B.C., home and bear-sprayed them — “the scariest sight” they’d ever seen, they told Global News.
The disturbing incident occurred just before 3 p.m. on Monday at their house in the 5200-block of Lost Lake Road while they were watching a movie on the first day of their spring break.
“All I could see was his eyes, and he lunged forward to my sister to grab her laptop from her lap,” one of the victims said Tuesday. “It was just the scariest sight.”
At first, the girl said she thought it was a prank and the man had used silly string. Then she realized she couldn’t see, she couldn’t breath, and she was having trouble moving.
She said she grabbed her younger sister, ran to a neighbour’s house and called 911.
“My face was burning, my whole body was burning from the bear spray,” she recalled. “Same with my sister, she was on the ground gagging because she got a mouth full of it when she tried to scream.”
The younger sister told Global News she thought the man was a mechanic because he walked into their home “so casually.”
“The last thing I saw before everything went black was this man lunging in front of me and ripping the laptop out of my hands,” the girl said.
“Just the feeling of knowing there was someone in my house while me and my sister were talking and hanging out together was just terrifying.”
Police said the intruder appeared to have gotten in through an unlocked door. Officers and police dogs arrived within minutes of the attack, but could not find the suspect.
The sisters were treated by paramedics and released to their parents.
Veva Leigh, who rushed home from work to meet her daughters at the neighbour’s house on Monday, said the attack left her feeling “powerless” as a mother.
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“It was like out of a movie, it’s not like anything you’d think could happen to you or your kids,” she explained. “Walking in and seeing them crying in the shower, freezing cold … their faces were purple and red. It was terrible.”
The suspect wore a balaclava that covered much of his face and was dressed in camouflage-patterned clothing, according to a Tuesday news release from Nanaimo RCMP. A hockey bag was also missing from the girls’ home, which investigators believe the man used to steal their electronics.
“This was a brazen incident that took place in the middle of the afternoon,” said Const. Gary O’Brien in the statement. “This may actually assist in the investigation, as someone could have seen the suspect entering or leaving the home.”
Mounties are asking residents to check their home security cameras and dashcam footage for anyone who matches the suspect description, or any vehicles that seem out of place in the neighbourhood between 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on March 14.
The detachment can be reached at 250-754-2345 and callers are asked to quote the file number 2022-8688.
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