A day after an armed man allegedly tried breaking into her Worcester, Massachusetts, home, a woman recounted her effort to fight back and get help.
Sara Kane said she woke up to a man slamming on the front door of her building in the middle of the night, pushing him back with a broom as he acted erratically and then being chased back into her apartment. The incident was caught on camera, which she shared with NBC10 Boston Thursday.
"I was like, 'Yo!' And then I just instantly grabbed [the broom] and pushed him like that," Kane said as she reenacted the struggle.
Worcester police arrested 32-year-old Oniz Janniere for allegedly trying to break into the home, saying he had two 4--long, double-edged knives on him.
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The incident began about 3 a.m. Wednesday, Kane said, with the man outside "intoxicated or disoriented." Kane went to the door and pushed the man with the broomstick, she said, and while he fell back from the broomstick hitting him, he still ended up getting in the building.
Kane said she then ran into her home, locked her door, and called 9-1-1.
“Now he’s at my door, shaking my door,” Kane said. “I was like, ‘What am I supposed to do? Get a knife?’ I didn’t know what to do.”
Cellphone video shows police running toward her building on Gibbs Street.
“I saw the flashlights, so I just whipped my window open. I’m like, ‘He’s down here trying to break-in,’” Kane said.
Within minutes, police had Janniere in handcuffs.
“Thank God for the men that came running to my aid, to those officers. Like, thank God for their response time, you know?” Kane said.
Worcester police have said they were called to the home about 2:52 a.m. for a report of a break-in in progress, where officers found a woman yelling out the window, "He's trying to get inside!" Janniere, who lives in Fitchburg, was arrested on charges of attempt to commit a crime (armed burglary), two counts of carrying a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace.
Janniere was in court Wednesday and expected to appear again on Dec. 22. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney who could speak to the charges.
