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2 Pasadena Teens Recount Terrifying Ordeal Of Neighbor Breaking Into Their House

PASADENA (CBSLA.com) — Neighbors usually help neighbors and watch out for each other. But for one Pasadena family, their neighbor did the opposite.

Sujeit Mendez, 17, was home alone with her 13-year-old brother, Abelardo, doing homework Saturday afternoon when their neighbor broke a glass window and force his way into their house on North Raymond Avenue.

"I see the neighbor walk by. He had blood in his hands," Abelardo said.

Sujeit said she heard glass shattering and yelling. "He said Sujeit stay in the restroom. Don't come out. Lock yourself in there," she recalled her brother telling her.

The teenage boy then ran outside through the blood-spattered hallway and called his parents.

All the while, he heard the intruder kicking in the bathroom door where his terrified sister was holed up.

"After he broke down the door and see me, I started crying because I was so scared," Sujeit remembered. "He said: 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry.' It's just you in here. I thought you were someone else.'"

The teenage girl said he left her alone, ransacked the house before taking off.

Sujeit immediately called 911 as her father and older brother were coming home.

"We went after him. He was going to hop over the gate. But he couldn't because we got him. And the police took out their Tazers, and he got down on the floor," Abelardo said.

Pasadena police arrested 36-year-old Carlos Casares.

The Mendez family said the suspect lives in the apartment complex next door but did not steal anything from their home. So it's not clear why he broke in.

Sujeit said she has a hard time sleeping because she does not feel safe in her own home.

Casares has bailed out of jail. The Mendez family said they plan to get a restraining order against him.

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