Scared Teen Calls 911 as Burglar Invades Home
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Ingram Publishing/Thinkstock(OAKLAND PARK, Fla.) – “I don’t want to die please.” Chilling words from a 14-year-old Florida teen to a 911 operator as a burglar rummaged through her home.
Kaylia Watson and her 12-year-old sister hid in one bedroom while their 11-year-old brother hid in another part of their Oakland Park home. Their mother, who was on her way to work, listened from a cell phone as Kaylia told her to calm down and simultaneously spoke with operators on the home landline.
The burglary occurred last Friday and the tapes of the calls were publicly released Wednesday.
“Somebody broke into our house. Somebody please come,” Kaylia whispers calmly, telling the operator she could hear him in her mother’s bedroom. “He’s inside the house. Please hurry.”
“What did you see or hear that made you think somebody broke into the house,” asks the 911 operator. “The window crash and then someone climbed into the window,” responds the calm yet frightened teen.
She said she saw a male who she did not recognize knocking on the door and she and her siblings hid in the bedroom.
“Does the bedroom have a closet in it?” asks the operator. “Go into the closet. Stay on the phone. Be real quiet.”
For 13 minutes Kaylia remained on the phone giving police a detailed description of the suspect and his clothes until police arrived. When the 911 operator told the scared teen that police were surrounding the house and that she could come out, the girl was hesitant.
“Can they come in and get me please,” Kaylia responded.
A minute later, police entered the house and found 18-year-old Robert James hiding in the closet of the children’s mother, authorities said. Police say he at some point was bitten by a dog and was taken for treatment. When he was released, he was charged with three counts including burglary.
“They did a great job. The call taker did an excellent job of keeping the kids calm and allowing enough time for deputies, helicopter and K-9 to surround the house,” said Keyla Concepcion, spokeswoman for Broward County Sheriff’s Office. “The kids did a remarkable job considering how scared they must have been. She [Kaylia] was focused enough to give deputies all the info they needed to arrest the suspect and take him out the house.”
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