ENCINITAS, Calif. — A California woman was caught off guard when an intruder squeezed through a doggy door at her home.
Just after 8 a.m. Tuesday, Lexie Linberg was in her upstairs bedroom, located just off Coast Highway 101, when she got an alert from her Ring doorbell camera. A man was knocking at her door. Thinking it was a delivery, Linberg didn’t answer. Moments later, she got another alert: someone was in her back yard.
“I heard the doggy door flap. My dog was next to me, so I knew I had a problem. I ran over to the balcony, dropped down, and saw feet going through my doggie door and I started screaming,” said Linberg.
Surveillance video shows same man at her door walk into her backyard. He took off his jacket before squeezing through her 10-inch-wide, 20-inch-tall doggy door.
“Complete panic actually,” said Linberg.
Linberg’s panic was quickly pushed aside by adrenaline.
“I yelled a lot of profanities, told him to get out of my house,” said Linberg.
Linberg, who has taken self defense classes, then armed herself. She declined to say what that weapon was.
“Anger. I was mad. I wanted to get the person that was coming to hurt me,” said Linberg.
Next to her was Stella, her 6-year-old Poodle, trained as a guard dog.
“Racing down the stairs with my dog, absolutely going for him at this point,” said Linberg.
Linberg raced into a downstairs room, just in time to see the man’s feet in the dog door. This time, he was on his way out. She gave chase down the street. He got away, but not before cameras caught a good look.
“He needs to be caught. It was obvious he knew what he was doing. He has done this before and will do it again,” said Linberg.
