Sunday, June 6, 2010

After Burglaries What else?

   I was up in my room keeping busy. Read a book on C programming that I bought a week ago. Check emails on the old desktop, replied to new messages on Facebook, browsed for some info on the web and  blogged.
   I was expecting there would be a lull in the series of petty theft and burglaries around the neighborhood today. So after finishing up on my latest post here today, I decided to go out again to my usual hangout- the neighborhood basketball court.
    Crossing to the other side of the main road that separates our side of the subdivision from the rest I chance upon Ruben the security guard sitting by the entrance gate. I had asked him the day before to checked on another vacant property in connection with the series of burglaries we just had. Informed me on the latest whereabouts of its caretaker. Good enough development for me. What I was not aware of was what transpired that afternoon. Others whom I met by the basketball court had their own experiences to tell. 
   The way I figured it out was a group of armed men in three separate vehicles  came searching for one resident called Ricky. They closed in on one parked van with tinted glass windows near his house. Some men went out of the vehicle started shooting at it thinking the guy they were looking for was there. Fortunately for Ricky, he was not even in it and was able to make an escape by running to the basketball court. He then passed through Arthur's compound from the back entrance asking for help but did not even stopped there to hide instead went out the front gate  and disappeared. Later there were exchanges of gunfire. Ricky's gang mates might have fought back. Then vehicles were seen on a chase going out towards the main road. I was not so sure who was chasing who. Important thing was they were all out of the subdivision where children were usually out playing in the streets during the day. 
   Somebody might have called the authorities. A mobile patrol came  later. Actually very much later. What was left for them to find were spent shells and a few live bullets. Good thing though nobody was caught in the crossfire or even was run down by the speeding vehicles.  
      
   

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Burglars, Neighbors and One Very Late Police Officer

   Three nights ago I was making a last minute check on my email. Mother together with my sister and  nephew were all in bed sleeping soundly by then. It was about half past eleven when I heard a loud noise upstairs. I waited for a while thinking it might be one of them who might be up and about dropping something on the floor. I should be able to hear some more even when their bedroom door was closed. There was nothing. So I went up the stairs to see if  there was something else that fell in the other bedroom. I sensed something was terribly wrong in my dimly lit room as I could see the temporarily installed  window screen already down on my bedroom floor. First I thought it could have been a strong gush of wind that caused it to detach itself from the grilled window. And that wasn't the first time it did. But then two of the four window glass panels were shut closed. It could not have been the wind. I switched on both the main bedroom light and one overhead light just outside the window. Light switch is just beside the door inside on my right. And from where I was standing I could see through the translucent glass panes a hazy but definite shape moving slowly away to the right. A burglar! Since I could not find a thing to arm myself with, the next best thing I could think of at the moment was to yell invectives at whoever that was to scare him off and hoping he would make the mistake of running as fast. There is an empty big lot just beside our residence and it's about a ten feet drop to its cemented pavement. But the only noise I heard were cautious heavy steps the burglar made on the galvanized roofing he was on. No loud thud of a falling body, no crashing of a makeshift ladder. Not even a whisper. Anyhow I shouted loud enough to wake my relatives up at the other room. 
   By now all were wide awake and at my back looking on. Adrenalins were very high as I approached the window. Carefully I strained my eye looking just outside the window grill. No one on the left, below and neither on the far right. The guy couldn't have just jumped out over the perimeter wall just out five feet from the window of the duplex apartment we were in. Besides the barbed wire he had to hurdle it would have been about another fifteen feet long jump down the other side. It would surely make a bad fall for the burglar unless he's one good stuntman to be able to do all that. 
   Well anyway my sister started to closely inspect the window grill herself after making sure the coast was clear. What she found was one disposable lighter atop on the edge of the open window panel. I saw another one on the bottom ledge with a prefabricated mini flashlight. That's when she started to get a little panicky and went on back to their bedroom, opened their window and shouted out to our neighbor for help across the street. This she did while using her cellphone calling our next door neighbor who's in the other half of the duplex apartment.  

   Everybody were out of their houses by now. Except for 2 or 3, everyone else were holding something to arm themselves with. My sister and I with heavy expansion rods for shower curtains which were still unused. One neighbor had a machete. My nephew was on our regular phone inside still calling the police station. 
   A police car finally arrived half an hour after. It seemed longer. One lone officer that's it. As he alighted from his vehicle, he pulled out from his back pocket a penlight. I got a bigger flashlight. As always the case the officer asked us for more info. After, he decided to go for the vacant lot which had incidentally a high bricked fence put up by the owner and which can be accessed only through a small side steel door. Pulled out his 45 caliber and went in cautiously through that door. A neighbor who just arrived a few minutes before and I followed him in. The place was really big. They say there use to be a large structure built on that lot. Now there are only some wild undergrowth  scattered on the far side of the property. Still it was dark. We scoured the area finding nothing. The burglar or burglars could have escaped over the adjacent wall. Just their luck I guess. Someday they'll get caught. This was not the first attempted burglary in the neighborhood. 
   In recent months there were a handful of cases already. Some thieves were successful getting their loot. Just like the one in the corner of Sapphire and Emerald at the other part of the subdivision. A cellphone and one laptop were among the things that were stolen from inside the residence. The owner's big dog inside wasn't even heard barking. The burglar even left a cigarette lit on an ashtray.
   Back to what had just transpired and after that crazy little adventure in the vacant lot, I led the officer inside and up my bedroom where the attempted burglary was made. Showed him the window screen still beside the wall and the lighters my sister and I found. After some minor inspection, he suggested that I go to the police station to file a complaint. That I politely turned down but instead just gave him my name and address telling him it was rather useless to make a formal complaint anyway. Besides I got my own kins to worry about that moment. Expressed my appreciation for the assistance though. Then he left.
   That following day I made my way to the subdivision's multipurpose hall to report the matter. There I met Arthur, the homeowners' association official. He was already informed of the incident. So anyway I still went on to tell him the whole story in detail since I was the one who actually witness the whole thing. Then together with another resident, the subdivision's security guard came to approach us saying he caught one kid that very moment ransacking a temporary shelter a few yards away from where we were. The owner of that wooden shelter was out working trying to earn a few bucks in some isolated mountainous area in the province. Jerrick is the owner. And boy was he really furious when we called him by cellphone about it. In a short while the young thief who was about maybe 14 years old was taken to the village station by Arthur and the guard. It was only about an hour after that another lady resident reported  an attempted burglary the very same time we had that night. Another household help who is staying in a house next to
the lady resident came out telling us their bicycle was found missing that very morning. And long after in early evening that day, again another neighbor came telling us he saw someone jump out of their own front yard's fence when he heard a noise that night.  All in all there were five burglaries. Four failed. One got a new bike probably to escape with.  

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