Homeowner Emotionally Scarred After Break-In Caught On Video

CHINO HILLS (CBSLA.com) — In security video, you can see a Chino Hills homeowner walk into his garage just before 2 a.m. Tuesday. He'd gotten an alert that a door was open, but he didn't think too much of it.

"The door was open and I just presumed it was the wind," he said. "I went over and I closed the door, closed this other door and reset the alarm."

The homeowner was not hurt and never came face to face with the men trying to break in. But he's so worried they might come back, he asked not to be shown on camera or have his name used.

When the alarm went off again a few minutes later, he started to get suspicious. So he checked his cameras and was frightened. Just seconds before he went into the garage, three men had walked through. One was waving a gun.

"I could have been killed or severely hurt. To this day, I don't know why they decided not to confront me."

The homeowner says he believes the men hid when he came into the garage, then took off when he went back into the house.

"They only took a couple things, they took some hover boards. I don't see anything else, they did not enter the house."

But the homeowner doesn't think this is the first time these thieves have tried to break in. Last month, someone shattered the glass in his back patio door. Three men were seen on a neighbor's security cameras that night.

"I think there's a pretty good chance it was the same group," he said.

He knows he's lucky no one got into his home either time, but the break-ins have changed the way he feels about what he'd always thought was a safe neighborhood.

"They didn't take a lot from me in these two times. But what they did psychologically to a place I've been to for 24 years, that can never be replaced," he said.

Some other neighbors have reported attempted break-ins over the past few months, but detectives don't know if any of these crimes are connected. If you recognize the men in the video, you're asked to call Chino Hills police.

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