WOLCOTT, Conn. — A typical Thursday morning for Barbara Manning took a turn for the worst.
"I was scared. I thought maybe he had a gun," she said.
The Wolcott woman was at her Grove Avenue home when she noticed a man she didn't recognize in her garage.
"Then when I got to the door and was gonna ask him what he was doing in the garage and that's when he pushed me back," Manning said.
Police said the man was there to steal her car, and took her keys off the wall, and took off an instant.
"He took the car and I just watched the car go away. And it's a bad feeling to see something that you have just go away. It was unbelievable," Manning said.
A neighbor's camera caught a quick glimpse of the suspect who police said was carrying bolt cutters at the time.
Officers were able to find the car parked in Waterbury a short time later.
"We brought it back here where we processed the car for fingerprints, DNA," said Wolcott police chief Ed Stephens.
Neighbors said it's not the first time cars have been stolen from that area and this incident has left them even more on edge.
"It seems over the last year there's been a rash of crimes. Carloads of people show up and they divide and conquer," said Daina Waugh. "They go into people's garages, they tug on the handles of cars to see if they're open," she said.
Police said if you do come across something like this happening, don't confront the suspects.
"These criminals are getting very brazen. Where in the past they wouldn't take something if the homeowner was out there," Stephens said. "These non-violent crimes can suddenly turn very violent," he said.
These incidents can happen at any time.
"I just told my husband maybe three weeks ago we better start closing the door because people walk off the street and sure enough, that's what happened," Manning said.
Gaby Molina is a reporter and anchor at FOX61 News. She can be reached at gmolina@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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