News
Man breaks into home with parents and ten kids inside and refuses to leave
In Niles some kids and parents were awakened to a stranger who broke into their house who wouldn't leave. 21 News looks into the break in, and outcome from a neighborhood home in Niles. I
Monday, September 4th 2023, 6:21 PM EDT
Updated:
In Niles, some kids and parents were awakened by a stranger who broke into their house and wouldn't leave.
21 News looks into the break-in and outcome from a neighborhood home in Niles.
In her 911 call, Donna Christensen told Trumbull Dispatch that there was an unknown man in their house and wouldn't leave.
At about 12:20 p.m. Sunday morning a family in Niles was awakened by noises and a stranger in their home.
He walked through a room filled with 8 kids playing games, and in no time was walking upstairs. Their son Kai woke his parents up.
Kai Christensen was in his room asleep when he was awakened by screaming outside, and it kept getting near to their home. The teen went to lock the garage door and by them, the man screaming had already made it into the house.
"I ran upstairs to get my parents. I woke them up. I decided to run upstairs to go get my parents, I woke them up, ran downstairs and he was already in the living room. I went to check to see where my parents were he was already on the landing," Kai Christensen said.
"My parents went up to him and asked what he was doing, why he was in the house, and what he needed, and he wasn't saying anything coherent. He was just saying people were after him, and he needed help, but there wasn't anyone after him," Christensen said.
His dad and mom asked the stranger to leave but he refused.
"We weren't going to be forceful until he started looking at my sister who was down on the stairs, and he started reaching for his pockets. We tried to ask him to put his hands up to stop, so we could see his hands just in case to see if he was armed. We decided it wasn't safe so we had to get him out of the house," Kai Christensen added.
Kai took action to try and protect his sisters one of the family's rules to help each other.
"I jumped over the railing to try and get between him and my siblings, then we opened the front door and pushed him out and locked it," Kai Christensen said.
But the suspect continued trying to break back into the home on Beaver Avenue slamming his head into the plexiglass door and breaking it.
His brother sprang into action getting this bat if needed for self-defense.
"I came downstairs and saw some guy trying to force his way in, so I go get the bat. It's just terrifying. You don't expect something like this to happen," Parker Christensen said.
Their mom Donna who called 911 for help, tells dispatch the stranger continued his bizarre rantings, saying he wanted to be shot.
The Christensens say before the suspect made entry to their home, they later found out he had tried to break into the neighbor's home prior to breaking into their home
Niles police arrested 19-year-old James Long for burglary.
He will be in court to face criminal charges on Tuesday morning.