We've read in the Register-Star about armed home invasions around the county, but a less threatening version of the home invasion, which never seems to get newspaper coverage, is apparently quite common here in Hudson.
A reader, who lives off Rope Alley near the Armory, shared this story with Gossips yesterday. Early one morning, when he was at home, someone entered through an unlocked back door, grabbed everything that looked to be of value in the kitchen and dining room, including the homeowner's wallet, and left before the intrusion was noticed. When the incident was reported to the police, they told the victim that this sort of thing "happens all the time." The reader told Gossips that had he known this happened "all the time," he would have been more vigilant, so Gossips is telling the story to caution people to be more security conscious and keep their doors locked.
The only thing that makes this example of home invasion on Rope Alley any "less threatening" than others is that the invaders got away unseen.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago an acquaintance of mine walked into his kitchen to find just such an invader stealing his TV. An "unthreatening" invasion was instantly and horrifyingly transformed.
The intruder grabbed a kitchen carving knife, sunk it into the homeowner's chest and headed for the open window.
My acquaintance removed the knife from his own chest and planted it in the back of the fleeing intruder, after which the police were able to make an arrest.
For another local example of why "threatening" should never be distinguished from "non-threatening" home invasions, recall the recent case of the youths who invaded the home of the Livingston orchard owners only to murder the 69-year old farmer.
After the youths were apprehended, the excuse they offered was that when the job was being planned at Hudson's "The Half Moon" bar, on Front Street, nobody said anything about killing anyone!
Leave it to the courts to discriminate between kinds of threats, kinds of murder, and degrees of punishment and/or non-punishment:
http://www.registerstar.com/articles/2009/08/28/news/doc4a97607d7d872880268782.txt