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PROVO — A simple answer to a knock at the door quickly escalated into several tense minutes for a Provo family when a stranger bolted inside the house and locked himself in the bathroom.
Kristine Breeding said her 11-year-old son opened the front door Monday night after two knocks, and the man uttered something like “bathroom” and rushed past the boy.
When Breeding, who was in her bedroom at the time, learned what had just happened from her son, she told her children to go to their grandmother’s house nearby, and then she grabbed a gun.
She said she didn’t want to position herself next to her bedroom because she was in a corner at the end of a hallway.
“I didn’t feel comfortable being trapped in this spot,” she said.
Instead, Breeding called the police and picked an area on the opposite side of the bathroom door, just down the hall.
“The phone was in my ear, and the gun was in my hand,” she said. “I said, ‘who are you and why are you in my bathroom?’ And he said something like, ‘I had to go to the bathroom, sorry.’ Like no, that’s not OK. You don’t come barreling past an 11-year-old kid to the bathroom just because you have to go.”
The phone was in my ear, and the gun was in my hand. I said, 'who are you and why are you in my bathroom?' And he said something like, 'I had to go to the bathroom, sorry.' Like no, that's not OK. You don't come barreling past an 11-year-old kid to the bathroom just because you have to go.
–Kristine Breeding
The dispatcher, Breeding said, instructed her to let the man leave.
“He would have been able to overpower me. He was like this tall,” Breeding exclaimed, referencing with her arm dimensions that far exceeded her own.
Provo Police Lt. Brandon Post said the woman handled the situation well.
“She did this perfect. She allowed the person to leave, and then gave us clear description and instructions on which direction he was going,” Post said.
Post said the man had diminished mental capacity and had walked away from a health care center. He had been missing for nearly 24 hours before officers picked him up just across the street from Breeding’s home.
No criminal charges were expected against the man, according to Post.
“It could have turned out badly, but thankfully everything worked itself out,” Post said.
Post said, generally, children should not open doors to people they don’t know. He recommended children should get their parents to open doors.
Post also encouraged families to keep their doors locked.
Breeding said she had talked to her son before about looking out the front window first, and the ordeal was a good lesson for her children and all children.
“I’m grateful that it ended well and that nobody was hurt,” Breeding said. “Now my children have hands-on experience with regard to what not to do in a situation.”
