Burglars Ringing Door Bells Before Breaking Into Mint Hill Homes

Two bold break-ins in the middle of the day have Mint Hill police looking for a burgundy car.

A neighbor with surveillance cameras caught pictures of the Dodge sedan that could be the thieves’ car outside a home in Mint Hill on Tuesday.

Police think it was driven to at least two homes where the burglars kicked in the front door, thinking no one was home.

Ii think they've been very bold about it," said Mint Hill police Detective Anne Marie Garmon. "They feel like they can get in and out quick."

The first break-in happened Monday on Danbrooke Park Drive off Lawyers Road. Police said the burglars rang the doorbell of a home there and then waited 15 minutes before kicking the door in. A woman who had ignored the doorbell was home and surprised the two men. She chased them back out of her house.

Then on Tuesday, they hit another home on Hogans Bluff Drive in the Olde Sycamore neighborhood. That's where Ina Davenport has lived for the past 12 years.

"It's very scary," she told Eyewitness News. "I was most disturbed that it happened in the middle of the day, and they kicked the door in."

Fortunately, one of Davenport's neighbors had the security cameras that caught the picture of the burgundy Dodge leaving the scene. It was missing the left front hubcap, and that's how police hope to find it.

Davenport got an e-mail Tuesday from her homeowner's association just hours after the break-in. She's glad neighbors were told quickly, but she worries about being at home during the day now.

"Occasionally I sit in the living room and just leave the storm door open and watch outside. Now I don't even feel good doing that," she said.

Mint Hill police said the thieves took TV's and cash from one home, but got nothing in the first break-in.

They're described as two black men in their early 20s. If you have any information about the crimes or recognize the car, call Mint Hill police at 704-545-1085.