An armed burglar, who entered a family’s home late Sunday while a woman and her grandson slept upstairs, might have gotten away with the home invasion had the sleeping woman’s son not gotten off work early that night from his job as a cook at Vancouver’s Easy Street Bar & Grill.
The 35-year-old son, Jason Guerra, and his girlfriend, Machelle Smith, 36, arrived at the home about 11:30 p.m., put on their pajamas and went out into the garage to smoke a cigarette. When they returned inside the house, they saw a strange man standing in the living room. The man was holding a laptop and backpack, which belong to Guerra’s 18-year-old son, Devin Koenig. Koenig and Guerra’s mother, Susan Zeman, were sleeping upstairs at the time.
“At first, I didn’t quite understand what was going on,” Guerra said Monday. “We don’t have random peple coming in at night. I said, ‘Excuse me.’ He didn’t say anything. He just turned around, looked at me and tried to walk out the front door.”
As the intruder opened the front door, Guerra tackled him from behind and overpowered him. Meanwhile, Smith, dressed in Mickey Mouse pajamas with a hood embellished to resemble mouse ears, called 911 from inside their home in the 3900 block of Plomondon Street, in Vancouver’s Bagley Downs neighborhood.