Property Crimes Detectives with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office are searching for the person(s) who broke into an 86-year- old woman’s house.
The hot prowl burglary took place February 10th at 9:30 pm on the 14000 block of E. Huntsman Ave. in Selma. The woman was home alone, in her room getting ready for bed when she heard what appeared to be knocking at her front door. She became scared and chose not to answer the door. Instead, she started turning on lights all around the house. While doing so, she heard noises coming from the area of a detached storage shed on her property. Moments later she heard a glass window in her living room shatter and she could see someone’s hand reach through the opening and try to remove a large screen TV. The woman then activated her house alarm by pressing a button on a handheld remote she owns. The suspect(s) abandoned their attempt to take the TV, got into a vehicle and fled the scene. The woman called a neighbor and they came over to help her with reporting the crime to the Sheriff’s Office. Deputies who responded to the burglary call discovered damage to a door on the storage building, which is believed to have been caused by the suspect(s) crashing their vehicle into it. A crime scene unit technician responded to the home and collected evidence in hopes it will identify the person(s) responsible.
The fact that the homeowner had a home alarm system installed and knew how to activate it proved to be valuable during this event. The woman was able to scare away would be criminals, protect herself and alert law enforcement in one fell swoop.
Detectives are asking anyone with information on this case is asked to please contact the Sheriff’s Office at (559) 600-3111 or Crime Stoppers at (559) 498-STOP (7867).
