Danville woman confronts burglar

DANVILLE, Calif. - Karen Harris came face to face Thursday morning with a burglar in her Danville home. 

"There was a large crash, so i jumped up and there was a man in my living room."

It happened at about 8:30 a.m. on Santa Clara Drive. The man kicked in her front door as she sat in an adjoining room.

"I saw him standing there, he saw me, and I yelled at him, 'What the hell are you doing in here?' and then he ran out," Harris said.

Harris says she didn't get a good look at the man because it was dark inside her house.. But he was dressed all in black, and may have had a ski mask on.

The man got into a black car similar to a VW Jetta. Danville police stopped a Jetta on Interstate 680, but it was the wrong car.

Harris wasn't hurt, but she'll have to get a new door.

The intruder kicked it in with so much force that it knocked a hole in the wall and sent pieces of the latch flying.

For now, two boards are a temporary fix, installed with help of a city worker.

The door was put in back in 2017, after she interrupted another burglar at 1 in the morning.

"I was sleeping, and I heard this loud crash, so I jumped up, and I flipped on my hall light, and I peeked around the corner. Somebody had crashed in the front door."

KTVU asked why burglars seem to make a beeline for her house.

"You know, I'd like to know that too, because it's a very quiet street, and why they pick on this house, I  don't know," she said.

Danville police canvassed the neighborhood for witnesses and surveillance video.

Like Harris, neighbor Gary Chester has lived on the street for 44 years.

"I just came home, saw the cops as I went in and figured there was something going on here," Chester said.

"It's scary because I do have a grandson, and I got a daughter and son living with me, They're older. You're always worried about somebody breaking in."