Caught On Camera: Suspect Who Broke Into Van Nuys Apartment Naked Attempted Earlier Break-In At Different Location
VAN NUYS (CBSLA) - A man who walked into a Van Nuys apartment complex on the morning of June 30, removed all his clothes and entered an apartment where two 12-year-old twin girls were sleeping was caught on camera hours earlier attempting to breaking into another home just a mile away.
Security video captures the moment the suspect walked up to a home on Vesper Avenue at 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 29.
He can be seen peering through a window. He then tries a doorknob and, eventually, takes out what appears to be a sharp object and tries jamming into the door.
"Once I saw him approaching the window and trying the door, it got real scary real fast," Robert Hemingway, who was watching the events unfold through Ring Doorbell camera, said.
Hemingway wasn't home at the time, but his wife was. He said that the man then walked away and his wife called the authorities only to learn that police would not respond.
"They said that they couldn't officially arrest him because he he hadn't been doing anything that broke the law," Hemingway said. "Their basic description was that he hadn't been here long enough and done enough damage trying to break-in and that he left."
He added that police said they would be taking the suspect to the hospital, but now Hemingway and his wife question if that ever happened.
A few days after the incident, a detective called Hemingway because the same man had allegedly been taken into custody for breaking into another home.
Jose Campos, the father of the two 12-year-old twin girls said the suspect took all his clothes off and entered the room where his daughters were sleeping.
"I found him in the bathroom wrapped in the shower curtain with a drill. He was completely naked and he began to attack us," Campos said in Spanish.
Campos hurt his arm during the scuffle, but police were able to take the naked man, who has tattoos on most areas of his body, including a swastika on his right side, into custody.
As for the Hemingways, they are frustrated, wondering why more wasn't done when the suspect attempted to break into their home first.
"Knowing what happened here, there was no reason for that family to have to go through that. There was no reason," Hemingway said.
The Campos and Hemingway families have met, exchanged videos and photos, saying they know it's the same suspect because some of the tattoos on the man.
LAPD has so far not responded to a request for comment and have yet to hear back on the identity of the suspect and whether or not he is still in custody.