Thieves in Capri's Paradise.

Yesterday was Mother’s Day in the DR. We all gathered at my building’s parking lot to celebrate. After we had lunch, we were making jokes and goofin’ around when Chachi, my older brother, got a call on his cell phone. It was the security company telling him that his house alarm had triggered. Since we live across the street (all my brothers and sisters in the same block), he crossed the street. Take into consideration he lives in a penthouse on the top two floors of a 13-story building, with restricted access. As he crossed the street, my other brother Fabio and my cousin Tony got up and followed him. When Fabio and Tony were entering the building, a tall dark man was coming down the stairs, walkie talkie in hand. He went by Tony, who had to look up to see him (Tony is over 6 feet tall, so imagine how big this guy was), and tried to get past Fabio. Fabio asked him who he was and he told him that he worked for the security company. Fabio asked him where his partner was and he rammed by him. Fabio tried to get ahold of him (Fabio is 5 feet 3 inches tall) but the guy tried to pull a gun on him. The guy then got into a brand new Chevy Tracker SUV, which Fabio tried to follow (Superman?).


Here’s what we believed happened: Since it was Mother’s Day, the security guard had no way of knowing who was invited to go in, and many of those invited left the door open, so he probably got in the front door. He got into the elevator and got off on the top floor and down the stairs to the 12th floor. He took a screwdriver and tried to pick the lock, but couldn’t so he kicked the door till it went down. This triggered the alarm, which he ripped off its hideout. He then went to my niece’s room and took 300 pesos from her purse, after turning her drawers upside down. After that, he went into my brother’s room and found a box full of my sister in law’s jewelry. Then his partner called him and told him people were running inside the building, so he took off down the stairs. The jewelry box was too obvious and he left it in front of the 11th floor apartment door.


Thank God nobody was hurt (there was no one in the apartment, except for my nephew’s Chihuahua, Chalupa), and that my brother was just 10 seconds away from his place.

We are all alive, but very spooked. Life goes on.