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News brief: Two scary Tenino burglaries in one week period

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A Tenino teenager investigating someone rummaging through a trash can outside his home during the night was met with a pistol pointed in his direction by a male whose face was covered by a black bandana.

Within moments, the same subject had entered the same residence through a back screen door, looked around and then left, according to police.

The incident on the 900 block of Lincoln Avenue at about 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday was the second time in the span of seven days in  which a stranger went inside a Tenino residence while someone was at home, according to the Tenino Police Department.

Police Chief John Hutchings is urging people too keep their doors closed and locked, especially at night, even though it may be warm outside.

“Occupied burglaries are rare,” Hutchings said in a news release yesterday. “To have a suspect armed and pointing a handgun at a victim is even rarer and to have two in a one week period is indicative of a potential crime trend.”

The first instance occurred in the 600 block of Garfield Avenue East at about 5 p.m. on July 23.

A teenage girl was in her bedroom and when she thought her family was returning home, she looked out and saw an intruder going out a back door, according to police. The man had come in through an unlocked kitchen door, according to police.

He appeared to be in his 30s, about 5-feet 11-inches tall and weighed around 220 pounds, with dark medium length hair, wearing dark blue jeans and some type of a vest over a black shirt, Hutchings stated.

Nothing was noted as stolen in either burglary. Tenino police and sheriff’s deputies searched both areas without success.

In this week’s intrusion, the suspect is described as 20 years old to 25 years old and more by his attire: Khaki cargo shorts, a short sleeved light purple shirt, a flat-billed baseball cap and the black bandana.

In that case, after the subject pointed the gun and told the teen to stay on the porch, he got into a newer dark colored Honda Accord or Civic-type car and drove away, according to Hutchings. However, as the boy was telling his mother what happened, the man apparently returned and briefly entered through a back door.

Hutchings asks the public to please call 911 if they see any suspicious looking people or cars in their neighborhoods. He suggests an alternative for anyone with an anonymous tip, is Thurston County Crime Stoppers at 360-481-5182.