TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Anneliese Meier was doing some gardening in the backyard of her South Tampa home when she was suddenly surprised by an intruder jumping over the fence into her backyard.
“It just happened so quickly and he turned around and he saw the dog and decided he better go the other way and then he jumped over the neighbor’s fence and started banging on her door,” said Meier.
She is the crime watch coordinator for Parkland Estates, but this time she was worried she would be the victim of a crime.
“My heart went pumping very quickly and you have mere seconds to think fight or flight and I was immediately thinking where is my gardening saw because I didn’t think I had enough time to get to the back door,” said Meier.
This isn’t the first time this same man has been seen lurking in the backyard of a home in South Tampa. In one case the man is seen in a security camera video in the backyard of a home and then seen trying to break into another home.
Several people have posted on a neighborhood app that they’ve seen the same man in their yard. Meier called police and several of her neighbors posted on the neighborhood app where they have seen the man.
Meier says she and her neighbors are concerned.
“The worry is somebody is going to shoot this guy, or he might get ahold of a gun and shoot somebody,” said Meier.
Tampa police say they’ve seen the video and are aware of the postings on the neighborhood app.
“We understand their concern as well. We’ve seen the videos that have been posted on social media and we also have residents who have called in and told us about this suspicious person and we are also investigating a burglary charge against the subject,” said Eddie Durkin with the Tampa Police Department.
