Brazen burglaries have one Colorado Springs neighborhood on edge. Neighbors reached out to News 5 so they can spread awareness.
Imagine finding out burglars entered your home while you were still inside. That’s how brazen burglaries at the Villa Loma neighborhood have become.
18-year-old Molly Crowe was sleeping when neighbors told her someone broke into her garage door sometime after 2 a.m.
"Our door to our house was unlocked and like ski equipment was missing, an extension cord and our neighbor’s house was robbed, their car was gone," she said.
That same morning, just across the street, Crowe’s neighbor, who didn’t want to be identified, told News 5 burglars pried open her garage, which she left cracked open, and her son discovered they took her car.
"He says ‘where’s the car? the garage door is open and the car is gone!’" she said. They realized her purse was gone, too, with the keys inside.
"Took my purse, it was sitting next to the lounge chair," she recalled of the incident.
It ended up right next to the Crowe’s home.
The purse was found in a yard, cut open, with items strewn about.
Another neighbor just a few homes down lost a car back in December.
"Taking the trash out, walk back in and my sister-in-law screaming ‘they just took my truck!’" said Mandy Thomason.
But these neighbors are quickly learning from their mistakes.
"It’s just scary, you know, that I find out all of our neighbors are still getting robbed," Thomason said.
They’re not taking any more chances.
"The door between our garage and our house was unlocked. Probably never will be again because our house is now Fort Knox," said Crowe. "We are locking up things more securely now. I think that I’m still – I’ve never been scared in this neighborhood and I think I’m scared now," said Thomason.
"We actually went out and got deadbolts, we didn’t have those before," added the neighbor who wished to remain anonymous.
Crowe is now organizing a neighborhood watch group. A spokesperson for Colorado Springs Police Department says these are proven to help deter crime.
And these neighbors hope it can do that for them.
"If we would’ve had one before and we would’ve known about the other robberies before ours happened," Crow said, "maybe we could’ve taken the steps that could’ve prevented it."
A spokesperson for Colorado Springs Police told News 5 from January to May of 2018, more than 11,000 burglaries have taken place across the city of Colorado Springs.
