A Philadelphia homeowner looking for midnight critters outside her house spotted another bandit-looking figure stalking around in the dead of night.
A mysterious, masked man was captured on a trail camera, standing on the rooftop deck of the South Philadelphia home, lurking around, seemingly looking for a way to enter the residence, according to video obtained by WPVI.
“I checked it and saw that at 2 in the morning Friday night going into Saturday morning, there was some guy on my roof, on my roof deck,” the unidentified woman told the outlet.
The unidentified intruder tiptoed around the patio furniture set up on the deck, before slinking behind a wall looking at parts of the building.
The frightened resident felt violated by the late-night sighting, concerned about what the man could be up to.
“I definitely don’t recognize the guy. Don’t know what he was doing up there. He was poking around. It looked like he might have been checking the window or something,” she told WPHL.
Bill Fitch, who lives next door, says he spotted the guy around the same time as his neighbor’s camera even making eye contact with the stranger.
“He looked down at me, and I thought maybe it’s just a guy on a roof in the middle of the night,” Fitch said. “I don’t know, I gave him the benefit of the doubt for no reason.”
Fitch checked on the individual again and realized he had the trademark clothing and tools of a potential burglar.
“I saw him clearly with a ski mask on up on the roofs, with a flashlight, looking to like gain entry into stuff. Like he was checking windows,” he said.
Fitch called 911, but the man was gone by the time police arrived, according to the outlets.
The unknown intruder is believed to have gained access to the roof after bypassing a nearby broken gate that was set up to block off access to an alleyway.
The unsettling encounter has gotten Fitch to begin doubting the safety in the neighborhood.
“I feel like he’s gonna come back. I feel paranoid, really,” he told WPVI. “We’re locking the doors. We’re double-checking things. We’re putting bikes in front of doors and things so that if someone were to get in, they’d have to knock stuff over.”
The woman who captured the man on video says she put up a “No Trespassing” sign on the roof as a simple deterrent for unwanted guests.
The Philadelphia Police Department has opened an investigation into the chilling encounter as a potential case of criminal trespassing.