Horrifying surveillance footage shows the moment an intruder smashed his way into a house in Lake County, Tennessee, as a terrified mother and her baby hid inside.
Keane Winchester, 26, says she and her two-year-old son, Memphis, were relaxing in their living room on 14 October when they heard some strange noises.
“I heard a very loud bang, and it just wasn’t a normal bang,” Ms Winchester told WBBJ. “And then all of a sudden he started screaming, ‘Help, help!’”
As the surveillance video shows, Ms Winchester was hearing the sounds of a man punching and ramming her window, groaning and screaming, and finally smashing the glass with a piece of firewood. With the window shattered, the crazed intruder then dived inside.
Once she realised what was happening, Ms Winchester says she ran upstairs and locked herself and her son in the bathroom. As the stranger downstairs marauded her house, she called 911.
“I mean honestly, I was shaken,” Ms Winchester recalled. “I wasn’t crying just yet. I was just breathing very hard, shaking, begging the dispatcher to please get his cops here, please.”
Police arrived just 10 minutes later, Ms Winchester says. It is unclear whether they arrested or charged the man, or whether he was still there when officers arrived. The Independent has reached out to the Tiptonville Police Department for more information.
In a Facebook post, Ms Winchester said she and her young son are safe, but traumatised.
“We are okay,” the mother wrote. “We are still in shock. We are learning how to make our home a home again. It’s going to take a while, for me especially … Every time I close my eyes, I relive the whole situation. Over and over and over again. Any loud noise around me scares me.”
Ms Winchester said the intruder, who she does not know, damaged much more than her home.
“He didn’t just break into our house,” she wrote. “He absolutely broke my insides. It was terrifying. Memphis is scared to be in a room and hear a noise. He’s asking ‘Mama, what’s that?’ I’m so scared to be at my own home.”
The rattled mother also thanked people who offered their sympathies online.
“Thank you so much for all of the shares and the sweetest comments,” Ms Winchester wrote. “It’s spread awareness of what could happen to anyone.”
