Atlanta

Neighbors say kids skipping school to blame for home break-ins

By Carl Willis
By Carl Willis

ATLANTA — A local community is concerned teenagers are breaking into their homes when they're supposed to be at school.

One woman told Channel 2’s Carl Willis the criminals made themselves at home, eating her food and using her shower.

They left the place in shambles and residents in the neighborhood say the break-ins are happening all too often.

"They wrote murder gang. It wasn't spelled correctly," Gabrielle Wise-Brice said she found written on one of the walls of her southwest Atlanta home.

Wise-Brice said she was out of town and realized something was wrong as soon as she returned and she saw the chain on the front door.

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"I immediately began to get suspicious like is someone in my house," Wise-Brice told Willis.

The house on Crestwell Circle in the Cascades subdivision was empty, but her TVs, mattresses and half of her couch were stolen by burglars.

Willis checked into crime reports for the area. Since December, there have been five burglaries on the same street.

Neighbors don't want to sit by and wait to see whose house is next.

"These kids are roaming free," neighbor Kathy Benboe told Willis.

Many of the neighbors believe the break-ins are being carried out by truant teens.

"I see it all day long. One of the teachers from the high school lives here and he can describe who's in the area," Benboe said.

“The kids can get picked up 8-10 times and there's no recourse," neighbor Jane Hicks said.

Mays High School is steps away from the neighborhood, but Atlanta Public Schools told Willis since the incidents are happening out in the community, they are in Atlanta police’s jurisdiction.

Residents say officers are doing a good job making their presence known. Still, they say something needs to change.

"There are people who see this and they're not paying attention and we're tired of people not saying anything," Benboe said.

"We need to get security around here. We need anything that I just need to feel safe. I have a 2-year-old son," Wise-Brice told Willis.

Residents said they've seen teens pulled out of vacant homes in the neighborhood. They said the issue needs more attention before someone gets hurt.

Cox Media Group

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