By Alicia Keene and Abbie Arroyos
Recent stories about break-ins and burglaries near Kortni Robinson’s home at the Cottages of Lubbock in North Overton set her on edge, but nothing prepared her for the shock on her porch just hours before the government shutdown. As if from a bad horror flick, she screamed as two masked figures appeared in the doorway.
No, it was not “The Purge.” It was “Scream.” Actually, two unknown suspects wearing Scream costumes scared the sophomore journalism major from Decatur, Texas, as she attempted to set up her home’s security alarm system on Monday night. Robinson said she opened and shut the front door several times as she fiddled with the alarm before she heard something weird and decided to lock the door.
After the incident, Robinson and her roommates covered the front door’s exposed window with aluminum foil.
“I kind of forgot that I heard something weird,” Robinson said.” I unlocked it, typed in the code again, opened the door – and there is just literally two people standing right there in the mask.”
Alarmed and disbelieving, said she laughed because she thought it might have been a friend playing a joke, which is why she initially convinced her roommates not to call the police. Just in case, she still ducked for safety in the kitchen with her roommates.
“So, we’re behind the bar, and I peek up,” she said,”and they are standing there looking through the window.”
During her second look toward the door, Robinson said she saw the Scream look-alikes jumping in intervals on the other side of the window. As she kept her glance, she said it looked like blood started to ooze down the characters’ masks. Then, they disappeared.
Thinking the incident was over, the girls returned to their night as normal, but Robinson’s roommate spotted the masked figures in the window, again. After a third appearance, Robinson said they decided to call the police.
She said the officer told the girls that the station had received several calls from the Cottages that night about a suspicious man in a hoodie, but he had not heard of any other reports of Scream characters.The girls did not see the characters appear again, and they have not heard of anyone else who saw them. No suspects have been identified.
Officials at the Cottages said they have not heard any confirmation of the story from the residents or their parents, and the Lubbock Police Department did not mention seeing anything out of the ordinary that night.
Photo credits go to Rachel Martin
“[The police] are not obligated to contact us. So, we have to make that arrangement once we are notified from the resident,” Adam Holland, the Cottages general manager, said.
Holland said the Cottages officials think the story has seemed to grow because it started off as complaints that someone was jiggling residents’ doorknobs.
David Garza, the Cottages director of leasing, said a concerned resident told him Tuesday morning they were not sure what kind of masks they were, but later he heard they were Scream masks.
Robinson said she thinks the incident was a prank that was taken too far, but she does not believe any of her friends were involved.
Prior to the incident, Robinson said the girls heard about several burglary and break-in attempts at the Cottages. She said they had decided to set up the alarm system that day after hearing about a burglary that occurred at her friend’s nearby cottage on Sept. 21.
Robinson’s friend, Payge Torres, a sophomore marketing and management major from Houston, said some roommates’ items were stolen from the downstairs of their cottage while one of her roommates was alone upstairs. Torres said she thinks it is ironic that their house was broken into despite the fact that she was told they were in the safest area because it is well-lit and close to the clubhouse.
Torres said none of the stolen items have been located, and her roommates will have to pay to replace the items out of pocket because the Cottages do not offer homeowner’s insurance. If residents want homeowner’s insurance, they have to go through an outside agency, she said, which they plan to do.
Garza, the director of leasing, said the Cottage’s corporate office does not provide homeowner’s insurance in the lease, but the housing complex highly recommends residents independently purchase the insurance.
After the break-in at their cottage, Torres said the Cottages sent out notice emails and posters on residents’ doors about recent break-in attempts.
General Manager Holland said Cottages officials can not comment on claims of other stories of break-ins or burglaries.
Director of Leasing Garza said the Cottage’s officials met Tuesday to proactively pursue boosting security measures at the housing complex. He said the housing complex’s current security measures include having two resident Lubbock police officers who patrol the property a few times each night, but the nightly patrol rounds may increase.
“We are in talks right now with two different security companies,” Garza said, “so we can have actual security officers on foot with our property as well.”
About Alicia Keene
