A Taft mother held a burglar at gunpoint in her home until police arrived Sunday morning, and it was all caught on surveillance cameras.
According to police, 25-year-old Aoreliorho Velasco snuck into Brittany Morse’s home on the 500 block of Keene Lane. He stayed there for three hours.
“He approached our house around 6:19 in the morning. I didn’t find him until 9 a.m.,” Morse said.
But the warning signs came early on.
“We woke up in the morning and my kids were saying, ‘your laptop’s missing,’ and I was just on it the night before,” Morse said.
While searching for her laptop, her seven-year-old daughter Aubrey first noticed Velasco their garage.
“She opened the door, she sees him there, and slams it shut–screaming, running back to me,” Morse explained.
Morse shuttled her children into one room, then grabbed the gun she bought just two weeks ago. She cornered him from the doorway of the garage as she called 911.
“I told the dispatch, ‘I believe he has a knife on him.’ And I told him, ‘you come near me, you take one step toward me, I will shoot you,'” she said.
Taft Police showed up in two minutes. In a news release, they said Velasco used the rear garage door to enter their home.
The most valuable thing he took was Morse’s laptop. He also stole food.
“He went through my purse. He didn’t take my credit cards; he didn’t take the money I had in my purse. He took bananas,” she said.
Taft police say they haven’t seen a case like this.
“If he would’ve come in the house while me and my children were awake, I don’t know what he would’ve done. But I wasn’t going to sit there and find out,” Morse said.
Taft Police say Velasco was booked into Taft City Jail for first-degree burglary. He also has an outstanding misdemeanor warrant for possession of drug paraphernalia. He is due in court on Tuesday and Wednesday.