By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
An intoxicated juvenile attempting to enter a residence gave a family and their young guests a scare when he attempted to enter their home early Saturday.
At about 12:15 a.m. Saturday, Hays police were dispatched to the 1900 block of Marshall after receiving a call that an unknown person was banging on the front door and breaking windows in an attempt to enter the home, according to Hays Police Chief Don Scheibler.
The residents were hosting a sleepover with their children and moved everyone to the basement and barricaded the door as they believed he was attempting to gain entry.
“It was very traumatic for everybody,” Scheibler said.
When police arrived, the suspect fled the scene and officers searched the home and ensured everyone inside was safe.
The suspect was apprehended shortly after near the intersection of 21st and Marshall and found to be highly intoxicated.
He was transported to the Law Enforcement Center.
“I don’t think he had any criminal intent,” Scheibler said.
He said temperatures at the time of the incident were slightly below freezing and he believed the suspect was searching for someplace warm.
Scheibler said it was fortunate no one was hurt.
“It was a potentially dangerous situation because when you kick in the front door of somebody’s house,” he said, “that’s how tragedies occur.”
The low temperatures could have also created a negative outcome, Scheibler said.
“This young person was so intoxicated he didn’t know where he was at, or where he was trying to get to,” he said. “If he had laid down and gone to sleep out in the cold weather, he would have died.”