Homeowners and apartment dwellers reported four break-ins from Tuesday through Thursday this week, two at nearby addresses in East Tosa and two farther west and father apart.
In one of the break-ins, an 11-year-old was briefly home alone at the time but did not encounter the burglar and was unharmed. In another, police found that two bullets had been fired into a door frame for no reason they could account for.
According to the police reports:
A shocking aftermath to a school conference
A couple living in the 12100 block of West Hadley Street reported that between 6:40 and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday their home had been broken into while their 11-year-old son was briefly home alone.
They said they had taken their younger son, a toddler, with them to Whitman Middle School for the older boy’s parent-teacher conference and were gone less than an hour. When they returned, the 11-year-old told them he had been in his bedroom on the upper floor of their tri-level home when he heard the basement door open – and he thought someone had been in the house.
His father went downstairs and found a window standing wide open in their basement family room.
Nothing was missing from the home. The father theorized that someone had been watching the house and seen them leave with their youngest, and thinking the place was empty, entered and then realized someone was still home.
Reason for gunshots in vacant home a mystery
A vacant home in the 10200 block of West Park Ridge Avenue was burglarized – and shot up – some time between 6 p.m. Tuesday and noon Thursday.
The owner’s fiancé said he had stopped in to pick up some things and found the back door kicked in. There was evidence that the whole house had been searched, but the only thing missing was a 32-inch television set. A collection of costume jewelry had been rifled through but left behind.
Police noticed that the door casing between the hall and den was splintered, even though there was no door mounted. Upon closer inspection, the splintering appeared to be bullet holes, and two .22-cal. cartridge casings were found outside a nearby closet.
The bullets did not pass through the wall, but the impact cracked an "ornate" glass window next to the door. Police could not discern any reason for the gunfire, as there was nothing apparent to be gained by it.
The owner of the home, a Cedarburg woman, said that the house had been vacant and on the market since October 2011.
Check those window locks from time to time
At 8:44 p.m. Thursday, a resident of the 6600 block of West Center Street reported that some time since 10 a.m. her apartment had been burglarized.
She told police she had come home from work to find a bedroom window wide open and property missing from her bedroom and living room, including a 32-inch TV, a DVD player, a digital picture frame and a box of condoms.
The woman said her window had been locked, but police found no signs of a forced entry and, after examining it inside and out, said it would have been nearly impossible for anyone to have gotten in the window unless it was unlocked.
None of the woman’s neighbors who were present saw or heard anything suspicious, and no evidence was recovered.
A brash entry but a hasty retreat
A resident of the 2600 block of North 64th Street reported that some time between 4:30 and 7 p.m. Tuesday someone broke into his home by kicking in the front door.
Police found the door frame splintered and a footprint on the door. Nothing appeared to be missing or out of place in the home, and police theorized that the burglar or burglars must have been scared off by something shortly after breaking in.
