Yesterday, (2:25 pm Saturday Kiwi time) I was setting up at our new music club when my watch and phone both alerted me to a security camera activation at home.
The camera is situated in the rafters of a carport between our garage/workshop and my "Man Cave". When I checked the camera recording I found two youths (late teens) had wandered in from the back of he carport. On reaching the door to the "Cave" they appeared to look at the Eufy security patch on the door and depart the way they had arrived, out of sight of the house.
There were no local cops on duty but my brother was less than 1/2 hour into his shift and would still be close to town, so I phoned him, gave him a description, and he did a drive around town but did not find them.
I decided I wold show the video to one of the local cops when I caught up with them as no attempt had been made to get in.
Just before 2:45 pm my watch and phone alerted again. It was right at the end of a song (I was on rhythm guitar). When the song finished I checked the live feed from the camera and saw the Cave door open, the alert was less than 30 second old.
I lay my guitar on the floor and ran to my car outside. I made the just over 1 Km drive arriving home less than 3 minutes after the activation.
My stepson Ryan was outside and pointed out which direction the same two youths had run. On checking inside I both locks had been cut from a cabinet where I keep primers, a few holsters and a small amount of ammunition. Four boxes of 12 gauge ammo appeared to be taken along with several thousand primers..
Our neighbour had seen the car they arrived and left in and gave me a description. I called my brother again who was still nearby (5 minutes away) and he alerted the on duty cops in the central town 30 km from us.
That was when I noticed blood coming from the forehead of my stepson.
It turns out that he had seen the two enter the property and heard them kicking in the shed door. He rushed out and yelled at them to get out. He cornered one exiting the shed door carrying a 4' set of bolt cutters. Ryan was hit in the forehead with the bolt cutters causing the wound.
My brother had arrived by then so I had him call for an ambulance.
the ambulance arrived and the staff diagnosed a skull fracture. Ryan was taken to our main hospital 105 km away where he was admitted overnight. He had a CAT scan and apparently skull surgery is not required.
In the meantime the footage from my camera (right over the offenders heads in the carport) was good enough for one of the local staff, off duty but visited at his house, to identify one of them.
The car was found with no-one around it near where the identified offender had been staying. Three youths (one apparently drove the car) were at the offenders address and most of the primers and ammo have been recovered.
Ryan is still waiting to see a doctor and will hopefully be home later today (Sunday).
I had an old double thickness timber cell door in my carport that came from the local station when it was revamped in '98. I had been planning on sanding it down for a coffee table on day. I had previously thought about fitting it to the shed but it was not quite the right size, about 4" to narrow. Luckily my brother had some framing timber handy and in 90 minutes were were able to reframe the door opening and hang the cell door. It is secured with a hardened circular padlock. It'll never be kicked in and will need a grinder to remove the door hasp.
I'll get the original door fixed and rehang in inside the old cell door. And alter today I will pick up two more cameras as well.
The camera is situated in the rafters of a carport between our garage/workshop and my "Man Cave". When I checked the camera recording I found two youths (late teens) had wandered in from the back of he carport. On reaching the door to the "Cave" they appeared to look at the Eufy security patch on the door and depart the way they had arrived, out of sight of the house.
There were no local cops on duty but my brother was less than 1/2 hour into his shift and would still be close to town, so I phoned him, gave him a description, and he did a drive around town but did not find them.
I decided I wold show the video to one of the local cops when I caught up with them as no attempt had been made to get in.
Just before 2:45 pm my watch and phone alerted again. It was right at the end of a song (I was on rhythm guitar). When the song finished I checked the live feed from the camera and saw the Cave door open, the alert was less than 30 second old.
I lay my guitar on the floor and ran to my car outside. I made the just over 1 Km drive arriving home less than 3 minutes after the activation.
My stepson Ryan was outside and pointed out which direction the same two youths had run. On checking inside I both locks had been cut from a cabinet where I keep primers, a few holsters and a small amount of ammunition. Four boxes of 12 gauge ammo appeared to be taken along with several thousand primers..
Our neighbour had seen the car they arrived and left in and gave me a description. I called my brother again who was still nearby (5 minutes away) and he alerted the on duty cops in the central town 30 km from us.
That was when I noticed blood coming from the forehead of my stepson.
It turns out that he had seen the two enter the property and heard them kicking in the shed door. He rushed out and yelled at them to get out. He cornered one exiting the shed door carrying a 4' set of bolt cutters. Ryan was hit in the forehead with the bolt cutters causing the wound.
My brother had arrived by then so I had him call for an ambulance.
the ambulance arrived and the staff diagnosed a skull fracture. Ryan was taken to our main hospital 105 km away where he was admitted overnight. He had a CAT scan and apparently skull surgery is not required.
In the meantime the footage from my camera (right over the offenders heads in the carport) was good enough for one of the local staff, off duty but visited at his house, to identify one of them.
The car was found with no-one around it near where the identified offender had been staying. Three youths (one apparently drove the car) were at the offenders address and most of the primers and ammo have been recovered.
Ryan is still waiting to see a doctor and will hopefully be home later today (Sunday).
I had an old double thickness timber cell door in my carport that came from the local station when it was revamped in '98. I had been planning on sanding it down for a coffee table on day. I had previously thought about fitting it to the shed but it was not quite the right size, about 4" to narrow. Luckily my brother had some framing timber handy and in 90 minutes were were able to reframe the door opening and hang the cell door. It is secured with a hardened circular padlock. It'll never be kicked in and will need a grinder to remove the door hasp.
I'll get the original door fixed and rehang in inside the old cell door. And alter today I will pick up two more cameras as well.
