Police applaud 9-year-old girl who called 911 when her home was being broken into

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    ORANGE COUNTY, California (KCAL/KCBS) — Westminster police have publicly praised the 9-year-old girl who called 911 as her family’s home was being broken into, allowing them to arrive promptly and take the suspect into custody before anyone was hurt.

In a post on Facebook, police said that they were called at around 5:55 a.m. on Friday, April 3 regarding an attempted break in at a home in an undisclosed location.

“A nine-year-old girl called 911 from a cell phone to report that an individual was attempting to break into her home through a downstairs window,” the post said. “The child was inside the house … along with other family members, and reported the incident as it unfolded.”

Police say that the suspect smashed a window of the home to gain entry.

“There’s someone in my house,” the girl can be heard saying to the police dispatcher in audio released Monday. “They broke the window already.”

When asked if she could hear any yelling or screaming, the girl said repeated what she heard, “‘Open up! Open up! Open the door!’ And I heard him hitting the door.”

Once inside, the girls’ father confronted the intruder, using pepper spray before dragging him out of the house all while his daughter called the police from the floor above.

The suspect, who police identified as Jorge Mendoza Diaz, ran from the area and jumped a fence into the backyard of another residence in the area after the homeowner was able to get him outside.

Police arrived within three minutes of the girl’s 911 call. They established a perimeter, located Diaz and took him into custody without further incident. He was booked for residential burglary, the WPD statement said.

“The WPD applauds the brave actions of the nine-year-old victim, who called 911, remained calm, and provided vital information to dispatchers, significantly contributing to the suspect’s timely apprehension,” the statement said. “The calm nature of the nine-year-old can clearly be heard in the 911 call.”

They released audio of the call, hoping that parents can use the “stellar example” to teach their children to act similarly and answer questions “under scary circumstances.”

“I am very glad that the actions of both the nine-year-old and her father were such that kept the situation from possibly becoming much more serious,” said Westminster Police Chief Darin Lenyi. “Based on her performance, I invite the nine-year-old, when she grows up, to become a member of the WPD as either a police officer or dispatcher.”

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