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'You can only think the worst': String of home break-ins in Fairmount has neighbors on edge

Published  July 18, 2022 5:46pm EDT
Crime & Public Safety
FOX 29 Philadelphia

String of home break-ins in Fairmount has neighbors on edge

Neighbors on a Philadelphia block say a group of suspected robbers were spotted casing their street before two break-ins that happened two hours apart. One neighbor who spoke to FOX 29 said he and his roommate managed to scare off the suspect, but another nearby home was broken into less than two hours later.

PHILADELPHIA - Neighbors in one Philadelphia community are on edge after surveillance video captured a group of suspected burglars casing their street moments before an attempted break-in.

Doorbell footage captured on Uber Street in Fairmount around midnight Wednesday claims to show three suspects split up and search for which homes have cameras. In another video, one of the alleged robbers appears to be pointing at houses. 

Griffin Pierce, a Fairmount resident whose home was nearly broken into, said he believes the suspects were "counting houses and looking at cameras." 

Pierce told FOX 29's Kelly Rule that shortly after the doorbell footage was captured, he woke up to his roommate screaming that someone was trying to come through their back window from an alleyway that lined the back of the property. 

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"He was like ‘Guys! Guys! Someone is in the house!’," Pierce recalled. "I have a baseball bat next to my bed, so I grabbed that and came down, and he was on the phone with 911." 

The commotion was enough to scare away the suspected home intruder, but only for a short period of time. Police returned to Uber Street less than two hours later for a home theft where the suspect stole wallets and tried to take a car but could not because it was a stick shift. 

"It seemed like they had done it before, and they were pretty easy going because they came back and tried again after the police left," Pierce said. 

Neighbors say a group of suspect home robbers were captured casing the a Philadelphia street shortly before the break-ins.

Another neighbor who asked to remain anonymous said the alarm for his back window sounded early Sunday morning. He couldn't say for certain, he suspects that it might have been the same group. 

"I have young children I have a wife yeah it’s really scary to think, it’s a whole different level of crime when someone enters your home you can only think the worst," the neighbor said. 

The Philadelphia Police Department did not share a description of the suspected thieves, but they urged anyone who believe they have information to contact authorities immediately.