What to Know
- Men dressed as construction workers broke into a family's Bronx home
- The family no longer feels safe and wonders what the burglars were after since they left all the valuables behind
- Police have surveillance video of the men and an investigation is ongoing
A fake construction crew in vests and hard hats broke into a Bronx family’s home last month. They didn’t take anything, but that hasn’t eased the family’s fears, in fact, it’s left them wondering why they were targeted in the first place.
Police say the men wore orange vests and black hard hats—to any passerby they’d look like a regular construction crew.
Homeowner Samuel Miranda says the men tried to use a ladder to enter the Soundview home through the second floor. When that didn’t work, they broke in through the backdoor and headed straight upstairs to the bedrooms.
There were a lot of valuables upstairs but the thieves left them all behind, Miranda says.
“They didn’t took nothing. There was iPads, there was computers. They didn’t took nothing,” Miranda said.
But the ransacked room and busted-in backdoor has taken something worse from the family: their sense of security.
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“We lock more stuff now, we don’t leave any windows open or nothing,” Miranda said, adding that he has blocked the backdoor as an added safeguard. “I put the stuff there just in case. If somebody tried to go in again, they could not push the door.”
Miranda says he was already thinking about moving from the neighborhood and this break-in has cemented the idea. He says his family just doesn’t feel safe here anymore.
“My wife doesn’t want to stay here. I’m worried about this area right now,” Miranda said. “I’m gonna move from here.”
The thieves were in the home for about 15 minutes. The family has surveillance video of the group and that video is now in the hands of police.
