The man who stole a car, a loaded gun and money from homes in Portland, Maine, while people were sleeping early Sunday morning remains at large Wednesday, police said.
One of the homes, on Dirigo Street, was entered after 3 a.m. Another, on Brighton Avenue, was broken into roughly an hour later, around 4 a.m.
A car taken from the first home was found “disabled” on Lowell Street, according to investigators.
Portland police say the homes that were broken into had unlocked doors that allowed the suspect to get inside. They are now urging people in the city to lock doors to prevent theft.
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“I hope it’s a passing thing. I was a little surprised by it because it’s not something you hear about very often in this neighborhood,” said Judy Smith, who, along with her husband, Robert, has lived near the scene of the first burglary for 49 years.
She and neighbor Kristen Levesque said they feel safe there. Levesque said that very little crime has occurred in the area, aside from several car break-ins.
“Typically, this is a really safe and quiet neighborhood,” she said.
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Both Levesque and the Smiths said they hoped for a resolution to the burglary investigation and that no additional crimes like that happen so close by.
Cory Lasala, who saw the burglar as he exited the condo he shares with his roommate, is also hoping for an arrest in the case. He said his roommate had returned home late and had accidentally left their door unlocked, allowing the thief to steal his roommate’s loaded handgun from a desk.
Lasala said both he and his roommate planned to be more vigilant going forward but he believes more needs to be done by the City of Portland to combat recent spikes in crimes like shootings.
“I hope it gets better," he said. "We need more police enforcement on it. When people commit these crimes, we need to actually arrest and charge them and we need to expand the care facilities we have for addiction,” he said.
“Police are asking anyone with video surveillance systems to check their recordings between 3:00 AM to 4:30 AM for any suspicious activity,” the agency said in a statement.
