HOUSTON — A 36-year-old man is accused of breaking into two different women’s homes in west Houston overnight.
Houston police said it happened to neighbors in a gated community called The Lake at Stonehenge just south of Buffalo Bayou. The gate to the community is always closed unless someone opens it with a clicker or code.
The suspect was seen in a home surveillance video walking down the street before he was taken into custody.
First call
The first call came in just after 2 a.m. Tuesday as a home invasion on Kingsbridge Lane.
Police said the first victim is a 68-year-old woman who woke up to find the suspect in her bedroom holding her cell phone. The woman screamed when she saw him and he ran to a neighbor’s backyard.
Second call
About 20 minutes later, on Norman Woods Street, a second woman told police she woke up to the sound of a police helicopter in the area only to find a male suspect standing in front of her bed wearing a mask.
The 38-year-old victim told police that the man repeatedly asked to have sex with her and even got on top of her. However, when she told him her husband would be back soon, he started pacing anxiously.
That is when the woman grabbed her cell phone, ran outside and called 911, police said.
The victims were not injured, police said.
Suspect caught
Since the police were already en route because of the first call, officers spotted the man who matched the description from the first incident. Police said the suspect actually asked them for help on how to get out of the gated community.
Police said the 36-year-old man is facing charges of felony burglary of a habitation with intent to commit sexual assault and felony burglary of a habitation with intent to commit theft of an elderly person.
Residents react
Residents want to know if the suspect followed someone in, jumped the fence or walked up the bayou on the other side.
Neighbors said they didn’t know anything was happening until they heard police and helicopters after the first break-in.
“Wow. He got real close to my house and it really made me uneasy,” Cindy King said. “I have cameras, a burglar system and burglar fence and everything. ... I think I’ll load the gun that’s under the bed now."
She echoed what other residents in the community are feeling.
“Houston’s got a lot of crime. The of the reasons that we like this neighborhood is because we feel like it is so safe but I mean I guess you can only be so safe,” Laura-Ann Settoon said.
Residents said police responded almost immediately but they’re still on edge until they figure out how to make their neighborhood safer.
“I’ve always felt so safe here, so safe. This is shocking,” Barbara Messier said.
Now the big question residents have is: how did the suspect find his victims? That's something they plan to address at their next HOA meeting.