Local family awakes to police in home, says man broke in while they slept

AUSTINTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Police arrested an Austintown man after they said he entered a home while the family was asleep upstairs.

Mallory Keenan and Corey Dame described their neighborhood as your typical quiet family-friendly block, but that changed overnight when they woke up to find police inside their home.

“They said, ‘Someone broke into your home. This is a crime scene,'” Keenan recalled.

Police arrested 49-year-old Michael Gordon on burglary and criminal trespass charges. A report states authorities received multiple calls for a man shouting in the area of Alderwood and Rebecca drives around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. When they arrived, they found Gordon on top of a vehicle in the driveway.

“They said that he was outside standing on top of our Tesla screaming for at least 15 minutes,” Keenan said.

The report states that Gordon told the officers he was with a friend at a nearby apartment when he left to take his dog outside and was confronted by men with pit bulls who started chasing him.

In his attempt to escape, he jumped a fence and tried to enter two sheds before finding the back door to Mallory and Corey’s home.

“I feel violated. You start to go through those feelings of safety, and my child was there. It’s just scary,” Keenan said.

Ring doorbell footage captured from a neighbor’s home around 10:30 p.m. shows it wasn’t the only house Gordon attempted to get into.

Keenan and Dame are thankful for their neighbors who they said were looking out for them.

“We’re always looking out for each other. It just makes you feel safe, but when something like this happens, it really has you questioning everything,” Keenan said.

They have cameras of their own on the house but plan on making more security upgrades in the near future.

“Just taking those precautions of lock your doors at night. This is a safe neighborhood. There’s been times where we’ve left the door unlocked. We’ve left our car unlocked. A lot of our neighbors have said the same thing. That’s something that’s no longer going to happen here,” Keenan said.

Gordon appeared in court Wednesday morning on the charges. He is due back in court next month for a preliminary hearing.

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