A family in West Hillhurst was rudely awoken on Boxing Day after a half-naked, screaming man broke into their home and attacked two people inside.
Police say they received a report about a man walking without shoes in the 400 block of 26 St. N.W. at about 5:00 a.m. and that the man was taking off more clothes as he made his way down the street.
Officers were dispatched to the area and were concerned that the man would freeze with the temperatures in the minus double-digits.
The man walked up to a home and started banging on the front door until the glass shattered and then he climbed through the door into the home.
“Inside there were five unsuspecting victims in there. He started assaulting people. He assaulted at least two of them before we got on scene and we found him inside the home still fighting with one of the people in there,” said CPS Inspector Paul Stacey.
Stacey says the residents ranged in age from 20 to 80 and were shocked by the incident.
“It’s absolutely unreal, I mean on Boxing Day you can imagine they’re probably expecting to wake up in the morning, have a coffee, but then this happens instead, it’s just absolutely unreal and to have some, presumably drug fuelled individual break into your house and start assaulting you, and I mean, that would wake you up from your sleep and everything else. I couldn’t even begin to describe it,” said CPS Inspector Paul Stacey.
A neighbor down the street raised the alarm after he awoke to find the man screaming and banging on his front door.
“That’s why I phoned the police, I was worried he was going to freeze to death, end up in snow bank freeze to death,” said the man, who didn’t want to be identified.
Police have the man in custody and say they believe he is in his early 20s.
He was taken to hospital for treatment and police are still working on identifying him.
The residents suffered minor injuries in the altercation and the police victim assistance unit is offering them support.
