A Red Deer couple has not been able to sleep since they were victims of a break-in this past Wednesday.
Sharon McGillicky says it was a “terrifying” experience when someone used an axe to break into their home in the Kentwood neighbourhood.
“My worst nightmare has always been that someone would break into our house in the middle of the night,” she told The Advocate Friday.
Early in the morning, Sharon and her husband woke up to a loud banging noise.
“We thought maybe the TV had fallen off of the wall downstairs. But then we heard glass just shattering, so we knew at that point somebody was breaking into the house,” said McGillicky.
McGillicky called 911 as her husband ran downstairs to see what was happening.
“A guy had crawled through broken glass and the kitchen window with an axe that he used to break in. He dropped the axe in the middle of the floor and ran down the hallway,” she said.
“My husband picked up the axe and (the suspect) came back into the kitchen where my husband was standing, ran around the kitchen table yelling, ‘Get me out of here. Let me out.’”
The man then ran into the basement and “bled all over” their home, McGillicky said, adding police had arrived as he was coming back upstairs.
“The cops chased him through our living room and tackled him at the front door,” she said.
“Now we are out of our house for a week or more while the hazmat team is taking everything out of our house, cleaning up the blood and disinfecting everything.”
McGillicky said their neighbourhood has felt like a safe place prior to this incident.
“People need to lock their gates, lock up their stuff and make sure they don’t leave anything outside that people can use for weapons or means to break into your homes. Everyone should know, this neighbourhood should be on alert. It’s a scary place to live now. It never used to be,” she said.
Physically the couple is doing “fine,” but mentally they are struggling, she said, adding they haven’t slept since 2:30 a.m. Wednesday. The couple is concerned the man may come back to their home in the future, said McGillicky.
Red Deer RCMP did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the incident.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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