A prowler was spotted peeping through windows in Boston's Brighton neighborhood Tuesday night, police said, and the man is wanted in connection to a series of incidents in the neighborhood.
Officers first responded to the home on Gerald Road, near Boston College, just before 9:30 p.m. for a caller who said she was cutting through her own backyard when she spotted a person looking through her windows.
The victim told police the person saw her and she was afraid they would lunge toward her, but instead they took off around the side of the house. Her roommates said she described the person as walking off calmly and slowly as if to avoid attention.
"If she wasn’t walking home none of us would have known he was peering into our windows," one of the victim's roommates, Kayla Schrann, told NBC10 Boston. "It was lucky and unlucky that she was looking in but at least we know what’s going on now."
Several of the roommates, all BC students, were home at the time but had no idea someone was outside. Schrann said that the woman who spotted the prowler was very upset by the encounter and that she came in shaking and screaming. They immediately called police who came by to take the report and check the basement.
The prowler was covered head to toe in clothing, the victim said, including gloves, to the point that no skin was showing. She noted that they were wearing a black fabric covering over their face that stood out to her because it had no eye or mouth slits.
The victim was able to snap a photo of the prowler but police did not recover any other video of them, according to the roommates. They now have cameras on the way in case of future incidents.
Police searched the area but did not find any suspects. The victim's roommates said the police told them they've had reports of similar behavior in the past and it could be the same person.
Boston police say the suspect matches the description given for a prowler around 9:17 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 25, in the area of Radnor Road, and a burglary at about 1:40 a.m. on Saturday, June 1, in the area of Gerald Street.
The suspect is described as a male wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, thick gray gloves, light gray pants, and black and gray sneakers with white soles, white logo on the sides, and a black fabric covering his entire face with no eye or mouth openings. In other incidents, the suspect was believed to be wearing a brown/red loose covering with eye slits.
A similar peeping incident was reported in the Brighton neighborhood in March and a series of break-ins rattled Boston College students in February. Boston College said Tuesday's incident is the only recent one on their radar.
"Boston Police and BC Police are encouraging students to remain vigilant following a report of a suspicious person in a backyard of a student apartment on Gerald Road in Brighton," a spokesperson wrote in a statement. "Police will increase surveillance in the area and they encourage students to lock their apartment doors and windows, consistent with safety best practices."
Anyone with information is asked to call Boston detectives at 617-343-4256. Anonymous tips can be called into the CrimeStoppers tip line at 1-800-494-TIPS, or texted to CRIME (27463) with the word 'TIP'.
