Police: Cottage Grove home invasion suspects flee after woman screams when they break down door

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Cottage Grove police were searching for two suspects after a woman reported that they broke into her house Wednesday morning and left only after she screamed at them.

The 47-year-old woman was alone in her home at the time of the break-in around 9 a.m. The woman was not injured and did not recognize the suspects. Authorities said the break-in appeared to be random.

“We don’t have any reason why that house would be targeted other than (the suspects) didn’t think somebody was home,” Cottage Grove Police Captain Pete Koerner said.

According to police: The woman said she first heard someone removing a window screen while she was sitting at a nearby kitchen table, but the window was locked. A short time later the suspects started pounding on a nearby door. They pounded for up to a couple of minutes, the woman said, before one of the suspects kicked in the door to the home in the 8400 block of Goodview Avenue.

“As soon as they kicked in the door she was sitting on the kitchen floor and she screamed,” Koerner said. “When she screamed they took off.”

The woman said she got a quick look at the suspects before they fled in a car. She described them as black males, probably younger adult age, with very short hair. They were wearing white T-shirts and baggy jeans. The man who forced open the door was about 5 feet 8 inches tall, the woman said.

The suspects did not appear to be armed, the woman told authorities.

The woman called 911 at 9:04 a.m. It was not immediately clear if she called before or after the break-in.

Cottage Grove police, St. Paul Park police and Washington County sheriff’s deputies patrolled the area west of Highway 61 looking for the suspect vehicle, which was described as a black four-door sedan that appeared box-shaped. Koerner said a Cottage Grove officer stopped a vehicle that was similar to the description, but released the driver because it was not the correct car.

Nothing was stolen from the home. Damage to the door and window was estimated at $230.

Tags: crime and courts, updates, crime