Cebu_4_2
21st August 2013, 02:40 PM
Ex-Detroit mayoral candidate hides with intruders inside home
Serena Daniels
The Detroit News
Comments (http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130821/METRO01/308210098#comments)
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Lisa Howze (The Detroit News)
Former mayoral candidate Lisa Howze is recovering from an apparent break-in while she was inside her home on a day she made a controversial political decision.
Amid a fire storm of criticism, Howze announced her endorsement of former DMC CEO Mike Duggan for mayor on Tuesday, and that decision caused an instant uproar on social media with supporters calling her a sellout who had betrayed their trust.
Howze returned at about about 5 p.m. to her home in the Mohican Regent neighborhood. Four hours later, she was upstairs in her bedroom chatting on the phone with friends over the day's events.
"Then I heard a thump," Howze said on Wednesday. "I thought what is that noise?”
She heard things tumbling over downstairs while realizing someone was inside her home.
"I thought does this have any relationship with the venom spoken about me following my announcement of my endorsement of Mike Duggan?” she said.
Still on the phone, she instructed her friend to call the police. Howze crawled under the bed in case whomever was downstairs was looking for her.
Then she called neighbors. One told her that her back door was wide open and there had been five, maybe six people inside her home.
When Howze called police, telling a dispatcher she was a former mayoral candidate who had just completed a news conference.
"I thought that if I explained who I was that it might illustrate the state of mind I was in," Howze said. "I was hoping for a faster response time."
The first patrol car arrived in about 20 minutes, she said. And then another showed up and finally an investigative team.
And at first glance, she saw nothing was missing aside from $53 cash she had left on her printer on the desk. A file cabinet in her home office also was tipped over.
Howze has lived in her neighborhood — located around Eight Mile and Gratiot — for the past 13 years. In that time, she recalled one person who tried to break in through a side window. Another time, an air conditioning unit was taken. Still Howze feels safe in the area. She talks with teens in the neighborhood and likes to think they would never let anyone mess with her, she said.
"To think that a youth could do this randomly or selectively, I can't imagine that," Howze said.
Howze also believes no mayoral candidates had anything to do with the break-in. The timing, though, couldn't have been worse.
The police and neighbors pointed out ways to avoid being targeted. Don't leave the mail in the door. Turn on all the lights. Get more lighting for the front yard. Install a second deadbolt that locks from the interior of the house.
Another piece of advice Howze had been reluctant to hear in the past: Get a concealed pistol license.
"The officer told me 'it's time to get my CPL license,’" Howze said. "I had resisted for a long time, saying, no I'm not getting a gun, I'm not get a gun. Now I'm not resisting."
smdaniels@detroitnews.com
(313)222-2175
Serena Daniels
The Detroit News
Comments (http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130821/METRO01/308210098#comments)
http://cmsimg.detnews.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C3&Date=20130821&Category=METRO01&ArtNo=308210098&Ref=AR&MaxW=300&Border=0&Ex-Detroit-mayoral-candidate-hides-intruders-inside-home Purchase Image Zoom
Lisa Howze (The Detroit News)
Former mayoral candidate Lisa Howze is recovering from an apparent break-in while she was inside her home on a day she made a controversial political decision.
Amid a fire storm of criticism, Howze announced her endorsement of former DMC CEO Mike Duggan for mayor on Tuesday, and that decision caused an instant uproar on social media with supporters calling her a sellout who had betrayed their trust.
Howze returned at about about 5 p.m. to her home in the Mohican Regent neighborhood. Four hours later, she was upstairs in her bedroom chatting on the phone with friends over the day's events.
"Then I heard a thump," Howze said on Wednesday. "I thought what is that noise?”
She heard things tumbling over downstairs while realizing someone was inside her home.
"I thought does this have any relationship with the venom spoken about me following my announcement of my endorsement of Mike Duggan?” she said.
Still on the phone, she instructed her friend to call the police. Howze crawled under the bed in case whomever was downstairs was looking for her.
Then she called neighbors. One told her that her back door was wide open and there had been five, maybe six people inside her home.
When Howze called police, telling a dispatcher she was a former mayoral candidate who had just completed a news conference.
"I thought that if I explained who I was that it might illustrate the state of mind I was in," Howze said. "I was hoping for a faster response time."
The first patrol car arrived in about 20 minutes, she said. And then another showed up and finally an investigative team.
And at first glance, she saw nothing was missing aside from $53 cash she had left on her printer on the desk. A file cabinet in her home office also was tipped over.
Howze has lived in her neighborhood — located around Eight Mile and Gratiot — for the past 13 years. In that time, she recalled one person who tried to break in through a side window. Another time, an air conditioning unit was taken. Still Howze feels safe in the area. She talks with teens in the neighborhood and likes to think they would never let anyone mess with her, she said.
"To think that a youth could do this randomly or selectively, I can't imagine that," Howze said.
Howze also believes no mayoral candidates had anything to do with the break-in. The timing, though, couldn't have been worse.
The police and neighbors pointed out ways to avoid being targeted. Don't leave the mail in the door. Turn on all the lights. Get more lighting for the front yard. Install a second deadbolt that locks from the interior of the house.
Another piece of advice Howze had been reluctant to hear in the past: Get a concealed pistol license.
"The officer told me 'it's time to get my CPL license,’" Howze said. "I had resisted for a long time, saying, no I'm not getting a gun, I'm not get a gun. Now I'm not resisting."
smdaniels@detroitnews.com
(313)222-2175