Etobicoke residents shaken after string of overnight break-ins

CTV Toronto: String of break-ins in Etobicoke Residents in an Etobicoke neighbourhood have been left shaken after a string of disturbing overnight break-ins. John Musselman reports.

Residents of an Etobicoke neighbourhood have been left shaken after a series of disturbing bedroom break-ins.

Three separate homes in the area of Brown's Line and Lakeshore Boulevard were broken into around 2 a.m. on Saturday morning, police said.

Maeve McCarthy, a resident in the area, said she woke up at around 1:30 a.m. to find a strange man standing over her while she slept.

"He had a mask, a white mask," she told CTV Toronto.

"He had a red hoodie on, it covered his whole face, and it came down like a triangle so his neck was covered too," she told CTV Toronto. "I just kept screaming and screaming."

McCarthy says the intruder didn't say anything and quickly fled through the back door of her home.

"This guy was jumping the fences like a gazelle," she said.

Frank McCarthy, Maeve's husband, was sleeping in the basement at the time of the break-in and said the intruder entered through the back patio door.

Ewa Garstka, another resident in the area, also awoke in the middle of the night to find a male intruder standing over her bed.

"I saw a shadow stand beside my bed," she told CP24.

Garstka said her phone, money and some jewellery had been stolen from her home

Police searched the neighbourhood on Saturday and recovered a black running shoe they believe may belong to the suspect. A police helicopter was dispatched to the area but the suspect managed to get away.

The Etobicoke neighbourhood has been the target of at least a dozen similar break-ins over the past two years.

In previous cases, residents have reported waking up to see a strange man standing in their bedrooms and several women in the area have reported being sexually assaulted by an intruder.

No description of the suspect has been released.

Police did not say whether the incidents are connected, or if a single suspect is wanted for multiple incidents.

Residents are being warned to lock their doors and windows at night and to call 911 if they see anything suspicious.

With a report from CTV Toronto's John Musselman