Burglar enters Calexico home with children inside

A Calexico family who live on the 500th block of east 3rd Street said they went through a terrifying time on Tuesday morning.

One of the victims, a member of the family who did not want to be identified, said, “I got up and I saw the front door open.”

Somebody had broken in while they were asleep and taken several items from the living room.

“My children’s things were not there, a bicycle I had just bought them was gone,” the victim said.

The terrifying thing is that their children were sleeping in the living room. The victim said the burglar must have walked all around them.

“My daughter is very afraid because she’s afraid somebody might hurt her,” the victim said.

Police said the intruder broke in through the front door.

“We believe that he gained access through the front door by jimmying the door jam with possibly a screwdriver,” Calexico Police Detective Armando Orozco said.

There was a problem with the door to begin with, according to Orozco.

“Slightly defective where it was exposed enough where if you jammed any kind of prying device it could’ve made it possible to open the door,” Orozco said.

He said people should secure their homes.

“Put yourself in the mindset of a burglar. If I was a burglar, how would I get into this house? Would it be easy for me to pry open this window? Would it be easy for me to jimmy this door lock? And if the answer is yes, how would I reinforce it? How would I make it hard for me to get into this residence?” Orozco said.

Now the whole family is afraid to sleep at night or step outside their home because the burglar even took the house and car keys.

“My kids are afraid. My son is afraid to go out,” the victim said.