Submitted by Marino4K t3_zrzz0b in rva

This morning, my gf woke up to a guy who had entered our apartment building, jumped onto our 2nd floor patio through an open window in the stairwell, and then trying to enter into our apartment through the window. I was at work, needless to say, she was shaken.

He got away, but just wanted to tell others to be on the lookout. This dude tried at 8am in broad daylight.

Why he picked our place, no clue.

EDIT: The man was found and arrested as of this afternoon. Thank you all. I sincerely hope the guy gets the help he needs as he’s reportedly dealing with a mental illness and this is just a friendly reminder to lock up at night or when you're not home.

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fusion260 t1_j15ikkz wrote

...any description other than "a guy?"

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Marino4K OP t1_j15mna5 wrote

I get people want a description, all I know is, he’s a white guy, bald, maybe late 30s.

I wasn’t there, my gf was literally asleep when this all happened so she didn’t get a good look.

I just wanted people to be extra cautious.

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PimpOfJoytime t1_j15qko8 wrote

To what end? A citizens arrest of a suspected home invader? A lynch mob? 50 anonymous tips to the cops because a guy walking down one of 50 streets in the Museum District or Fan fit the description?

I’m not trying to be insensitive to the victim here, but shit like this is how Reddit ruins lives.

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toller_kate t1_j15qoot wrote

Was this around 8am on Stuart Ave? If so the man was seen, followed and his picture was posted on nextdoor. A later update said he was arrested.

Whoever witnessed it called 911 and followed the man to a nearby business and took his photo. Apparently the man is suffering some type of mental illness and is well known to police.

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SecretMelynx t1_j15w5mx wrote

Hopefully a news station covers this, I'd be really interested to know what this person looks like. I used to work at Kramers and I'm pretty sure I've been harassed a couple of times by this person before while on shift. This was a couple of months ago.

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marginalmusings t1_j16hiuu wrote

Do we know if this is the peeping tom dude or an unrelated disturbing incident?

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hollowcaverns t1_j16jfbv wrote

Just as I was starting to calm down a bit from the peeping Tom. Great. At least this guy was caught but still scary it happened literally on my block

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TheSto1989 t1_j16twii wrote

My gf and I just bought a house in the fan/museum district (sort of between them), and I keep talking myself out of buying a gun for home defense. These recurrent posts of break-ins are unfortunately talking me back into getting one.

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Charlesinrichmond t1_j16zden wrote

I'm not going to say you shouldn't, that's your call, but honestly, breakins in the Fan/MD are rare. You shouldn't be overly concerned.

I'm not anti gun, I own one, but I wouldn't buy one for fear reasons in your location

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CandidRip2752 t1_j171tc8 wrote

Gf here. The guy that followed him witnessed the whole thing. He followed him and got the pictures while I watched his dog for him. I was very grateful to have him walk by as it happened because that’s what led to his arrest.

Not to mention having him, his dog, and another neighbor sit with me helped while I had processed what had happened. 😅

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Ultimatethies t1_j175acd wrote

If you buy one you need to train yourself to use it and defend it.

If you have a gun, then any fight you find yourself in will automatically involve a gun.

Defending your house with a gun can turn into some dude in your house with your gun if you don’t know what you’re doing.

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mayflowers5 t1_j17c0ed wrote

Being a homeowner is one of the biggest responsibilities in my life. The weekend we closed on our house, we bought a security system. I feel like that’s honestly the biggest assurance we have that we are protected. I can’t recommend it enough. We have 24/7 monitoring, all our windows and doors have sensors, outdoor and indoor cameras, glass break detectors, flood detectors, and combo CO/smoke detectors. Have felt very safe with that and don’t feel the need to get a gun in my relatively safe neighborhood.

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SecretMelynx t1_j18dcmv wrote

yep that's him (Eric brown). he would come by and stare at me through the storefront and acted very strangely in general. he came in once and that was terrifying, he definitely has problems but it was scary asf to be around

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CandidRip2752 t1_j1bt0eg wrote

Seriously! ❤️ The dog (super cute and affectionate, the owner of the dog/my neighbor who led to the guy’s arrest, and my neighbor downstairs who kept me company while I was coming out of shock.

We’ve got good people out here in this neighborhood! 🥰

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CandidRip2752 t1_j1bthy7 wrote

Gf here. I’m not big into guns but my bf (OP) has been considering it for a while anyway. I’m going to get some mace for myself but if he does end up getting a firearm, I’ll be sure to take the classes for it too.

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Charlesinrichmond t1_j1e0qew wrote

that sounds wise. I would base the decision on your own needs in general though... it's quite unlikely to have have a house in the MD/Fan broken into while occupied (though not impossible as you obviously know!)

There was a stretch where VCU girls apartments were invaded in the eastern fan though. My wife feels more comfortable with a gun in the house, I don't really care either way, but I like shooting skeet so I've had a shotgun around for a fair bit of my life. I think an alarm and mace would be fine. My perspective is influenced by the fact I'm a rather large man who is used to working with deadly things and in bad areas, so not a usual target

If you do have a gun in the house you should absolutely go to the range and shoot it and get comfortable with it. Having one without experience is not a good idea

I do think Cameras are a great idea, and alarms are a good one too. Simplisafe is easy to install and fairly priced

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CandidRip2752 t1_j1f78fs wrote

Thanks for the input! You’re the second person that has mentioned Simplisafe, so I’ll have to look into it.

As far as a firearm goes, if we do end up getting one I will definitely take all the classes I need to be sure I am comfortable with it. I’m glad that screaming at him to get out was all I needed this time. He clearly didn’t think anyone was home.

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