A Bowie woman said it took Prince George’s County, Maryland, police over 20 minutes to respond to an unknown man trying to enter her home last Tuesday. They said it was due to staffing shortages.
Kezia Williams was outside her house when a stranger in a Lakers hoodie came onto her lawn. She quickly went inside and called police.
“I immediately started to put down the blinds in my house and shut my windows,” Williams told our news partners at NBC Washington.
Williams was on the phone with 911 dispatchers, who told her not to trigger an alarm and to wait for police to arrive.
A video from her doorbell cam showed the man trying to enter her front door. He then realized he was being filmed and briefly put a finger over the camera.
“He put on gloves at that point he tried to enter again. And then he walked around the back of my house,” Williams said. “I think he was here to hurt me.”
Police showed up 22 minutes later. The suspect had already left.
According to NBC Washington, Williams tried to file a police report days later but was told she couldn’t by a police officer.
“He said unless he entered your home, even if it was just him putting his hand in your home, it’s not breaking and entering. There’s nothing that we could do.”
Williams then posted the video to social media.
“When I put the video out, someone did reach out to me and say that she knew him.”
On Friday, 72 hours after the attempted break-in, police came back to Williams’ home for a statement and learned his identity.
“I did not feel safe in those three days,” she said.
Prince George’s County police have arrested the man and charged him with trespassing.
