Woman Beats Burglar With Broom

A 20-year-old woman stopped a burglar from leaving with the family TV set by hitting him with a broom when she encountered him in her apartment on the 9300 block of South Harlem Avenue, according to police reports.

The woman told police she was awakened around 10:30 a.m. on May 20 by a noise in the living room of the apartment she shares with her mom. When she went to investigate, a black man in his early 20s with a mustache was heading to the front door with the TV set, according to the report.

The woman began beating the burglar with a broom until he asked her to stop hitting him so he could leave. The man couldn’t get the front door open, so he fled down a hallway and jumped out of a bedroom window. He was last seen fleeing on foot.

Police interviewed several neighbors, who said the man had followed them into the apartment complex. Another neighbor said she saw the man ringing all the front-door buzzers trying to get into the building.