Multiple nighttime home burglaries reported in Palo Alto; 2 interrupted by residents
By Carlos E. Castañeda
Police in Palo Alto were looking for suspects in a series of home burglaries on Monday night, including two that were interrupted by residents.
The Palo Alto Police Department said in a press release Tuesday that dispatchers received a call at about 9:26 p.m. Monday from a woman reporting a burglary at her home on Nelson Drive, south of E. Charleston Road and west of Middlefield Road. The resident, in her 30s, said she heard a gate to her backyard open and saw two masked intruders enter her yard with flashlights, and they later smashed the rear glass door to the home, police said.
Officers arrived to find two subjects entering a dark-colored vehicle, which officers attempted to stop, but the vehicle fled at a high rate of speed, police said. It was not immediately known if anything was stolen from the residence.
Eight minutes after the first call, dispatchers received another call reporting a burglary a block away on El Capitan Place, police said. A man in his 40s told police he returned home and found that his house had been ransacked. The man also reported hearing a noise in his house, and his child saw a person crawling on the ground, police said.
The man said he and his family left the house and called the police. Officers arrived to set up a perimeter of the area, but despite help from a San Jose Police Department helicopter and a San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit, no suspects were found. It was determined the burglar or burglars entered the home after also smashing the rear glass door; police said it was unknown if anything was stolen.
Less than an hour later, at about 10:15 p.m., another residential burglary was reported about 2.5 miles north, on Cardinal Way just south of Oregon Expressway and west of Bayshore Road/U.S. Highway 101. The resident, who was not home when the burglary happened, reported that several items of jewelry had been stolen. Police said the intruder or intruders entered the home by breaking the read glass sliding door.
The Police Department urged anyone with information about the incidents to call the 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be sent by text or voice mail to (650) 383-8984, or submitted using the “TipNow-Palo Alto” app.
