Jennifer Charron knew something wasn’t right almost as soon as she and her eight-year-old twins walked into her house Thursday night.
“I came in and set down all my stuff on the counter … and noticed that there were two backpacks on the couch,” she said Friday.
Charron didn’t recognize the backpacks, so she walked over to the couch to get a closer look.
Inside, she found money, gift cards, electronics and other items – all of which belonged to her family.
That’s when she noticed the noise.
“I heard thumping coming from upstairs, and that’s when I turned around and he was standing on the stairwell,” she said.
“He was confused, I think, and scared as well.”
Charron says the man, who was wearing a ski mask, pulled out what she believes was a knife, and started moving toward the backpack.
She says she confronted the man, whose demeanour seemed to change after the struggle.
“He ended up dumping the rest of our items on our floor, and kept showing me the knife,” she said.
The intruder then took off, leaving Charron’s house without any of her items.
Waterloo Regional Police say they’ve received reports of three similar robberies in the past month – all from Ayr – and are looking into any and all connections between them.
“Ayr is a safe community, but given the trend we’re seeing … we have increased police presence in the area,” said police spokesperson Alana Holtom.
“Our message moving forward is ‘Lock your residences, keep your information personal and report any suspicious activity.’”
In the meantime, police recommend that anyone walking into a similar robbery keep their distance from the intruder and call 911, instead of trying to deal with the situation themselves.
“Generally speaking, we don’t encourage anyone to be in a confrontational situation with someone who’s armed,” Holtom said.
Police describe the man behind Thursday’s robbery as being white, thin, six feet tall and likely in his late teens.
In addition to a black ski mask, he was wearing black gloves and black pants.
