An alert citizen leaves house and avoids danger
On December 5th at 7 P.M. a woman was at home in the 1900 block of East Marshall Avenue in Phoenix when she heard the window in the laundry room shatter. She was startled when a second window in her great room was shattered. She heard male voices outside and believed they were entering her home. Understandably shaken and scared, she had the presence of mind to crawl out of her home, then ran across the street to a neighbor’s home and called 911.
Patrol officers from the Squaw Peak Precinct arrived and set up a perimeter around the house. They observed Montino Garrett Hardy, 23, walking around inside the home. Special Assignment Unit officers convinced him to exit the home and he was arrested. However, when officers went inside the home, Hardy had turned two stove burners on, filling the house with the smell of natural gas, causing a potentially dangerous situation. Hardy was booked into jail for burglary, endangerment, and attempted arson of an occupied structure. This incident demonstrates that the best course of action when someone is breaking into your home is to get out if possible, get to a phone, and call 911. The victim in this case did an outstanding job.