Though the Trinity County Sheriff’s Office refuses to confirm the incident, (their policy is to only speak through Lynn Ward, Administrative Services Officer, and she is gone until Monday) we have received a detailed account of a home invasion near Mad River which occurred this morning. The details have been confirmed as much as possible from neighbors. We would prefer to have the Trinity County Sheriff’s input but we feel that waiting until Monday could leave the community uninformed and unprepared. So we have chosen to go ahead.

An older resident of the Mad River area who prefers to remain anonymous but with whom we have had several contacts before, told us that he was the victim of an attempted home invasion between 6:30 and 7 this morning. A friend of his and fellow Mad River resident, AJ Calderone, confirmed that the man’s windows were broken out, that someone had attempted to kick in his door, and that “internet” wires were cut to the man’s house.

We are presenting the rest of the story here as much as possible in the victim’s words.

It seemed to me like it was probably four of them. They were coming and going and it was hard to differentiate them because they were dressed in black with masks…They come right at daylight. It was still somewhat dark when they got here. My driveway alert kept going off. I went to my window…I was on the top floor…They were all dressed in black with black [ski] masks. …I saw right away that one of them had a gun. It wasn’t until later that I saw the others [had guns]. They were all right in front of my front door. They were on my porch….These guys were all between 20 to 30 [years old]. I’m assuming by how physically healthy they were….Then they spread out and went all the way around [the house]. They cut my computer lines. They apparently thought it was an alarm…. They broke the front window. Then the side window…They took my driveway alert…[They carried] something like Mac-10’s. No one has them but criminals. [They are] like a sawed off shotgun but instead a machine gun. I was definitely scared. After I was absolutely sure they were doing an invasion, I grabbed my gun. I yelled at them, “Why are you picking on me? I’m poor. You’re at the wrong house. I don’t got shit.” They said, “We’re not going to take everything.” I can’t tell exactly what time but I called 911 when they were still trying to break into the house….I was on hold for what seemed like forever. I had the gun in one hand and the phone in the other…They were here what seemed like a long time to me. I seen ’em leave and then go up where [we think] their truck was. [They came back.]…They broke my door almost completely down. I was going door to door [inside the second floor of the house.] I was in a panic. I knew they were going to hurt me…Then I saw a guy right outside my [second floor] window[on a porch.] [The man who was dressed in black and masked did not seem to be carrying a gun.] I had the gun on sort of angle…I pointed it at him…It was aimed right at his gut…He knew. He knew what was coming. He got real scared. His eyes got big like silver dollars. [He got off the second story.] Not too long after that [all the invaders] left. I didn’t even know they left. It got quiet.

The victim described seeing a ’98 Dodge 3/4 ton 4-wheel drive truck with dull white paint accelerate away from the scene. The truck bed had a black liner and possibly a diesel transfer tank in the back. A neighbor said he had seen a similar vehicle parked at the top of the victim’s land in the area where the victim had seen the men head towards in the middle of their invasion attempt.

According to the victim, about an hour after the invaders left, a deputy from the Trinity County Sheriff’s Office and a US Forest Service officer arrived on the scene. It is difficult for officers to get to Mad River which is over an hour and a half from Weaverville where the Sheriff’s Office is located.

According to Jada Krueger who alerted us to the home invasion, “We have spent all morning talking to locals-& giving the description of the truck (evidently the white truck & a red [Camaro] were seen driving up & down our street yesterday). Please be alert and report any issues to the Trinity County Sheriff’s Office at (530) 623-2611.