15-Year-Old Was Home Alone During Burglary

Additional details were released this morning of the that prompted a brief manhunt through the woods behind Lawrence Shopping Center.

Lt. Charles Edgar, a Lawrence Township police spokesman, said police received a 911 call at 8:34 p.m. from a 15-year-old boy reporting that his home on Stonicker Drive had just been burglarized.

The boy told police he had been home alone and was in the bathroom when he heard noises coming from somewhere in the house, Edgar said. He said the boy told police he remained in hiding in the bathroom until after the noises stopped.

When the 15-year-old finally ventured out of the bathroom, he discovered that his bedroom had been ransacked and a video game console and other items worth a total of $600 had been stolen, Edgar said.

The teenager never got a look at the burglar, who apparently gained entry to the home through an unlocked rear door, he said.

A police officer who was responding to the burglary spotted a suspicious white or Hispanic male wearing a camouflage shirt in the area of Harding Avenue and Princeton Pike. The male started to run upon seeing the officer and fled into the wooded area behind Lawrence Shopping Center.

Unsure if the male was connected to the Stonicker Drive burglary or some other crime, police officers set up a perimeter around the wooded area and called in a police dog to help conduct a search.

The dog was used to check behind the Retro Fitness gym at the rear of the shopping center, as well as the Church of Our Saviour in the 2300 block of Princeton Pike. The man could not be located and the search was called off around 9:45 p.m.

Edgar said police processed the burglar scene for evidence and detectives are investigating the crime, as well as the circumstances surrounding the man who ran from officers.

Anyone with information about the crime is urged to call Lawrence Township police at (609) 896-1111.