Home invasion in Elmhurst section of Providence
There was a home invasion in Elmhurst. A group of men broke into a Providence home and held a gun to the head of a young woman living there. Neighbors in the area say they're experiencing a lot of invasions, and one Providence College student we spoke with says she's fed up with a couple of things.
One is the crime in her neighborhood.
The other, she says, is that Providence police officers don't do anything about it.
A neighborhood watch sign hangs in the neighborhood, an irony- says Kaitlin Gateli, because it hasn't prevented break-ins or muggings that plague the Elmhurst neighborhood. Gateli tells Eyewitness News about the latest hit- a break in Monday night to a multi-family home. She says several men forced their way in through a basement window and held a gun to a woman's head.
"I called the cops 3 times. It took them 5-10 minutes to get here."
Gateli says it's not just the long response time that has her frustrated. It's the fact that students in her neighborhood continue to be targets for criminals.
"This is a college neighborhood. They know when we're gone, when we're here. They've learned that. They watch you and the cops know that and it still hasn't changed."
Gateli is a junior at Providence College and says she has to stay in this neighborhood until she graduates. She hopes she won't be the victim of a crime.
"I'm not staying here tonight. No one feels safe here."
A spokesperson for the Providence police department tells us it's unusual for officers not to respond more quickly to an emergency call. This is something they will be looking into today.
Meantime, the men who broke into this Pembroke home continue to be on the loose.
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