Security guards chased off four masked intruders from Tyler Perry’s Beverly Ridge Estates mansion on Wednesday, according to surveillance footage obtained by TMZ.
Amidst the chase, the intruders left behind a backpack full of tools like crowbars, gloves, a hat, a saw, and a cell phone, all things common in home burglaries.
KTLA’s Rachel Menitoff spoke with neighbors who say break-ins are a huge issue in the area, and the thieves are getting smarter and more brazen by the day.
Perry’s property is located off of a busy stretch of Coldwater Canyon, which is a major artery bringing cars from the city into the valley and vice versa, and, according to residents, is also one that attracts thieves looking for a vacant house to ransack.
Early Wednesday evening on Dec. 4, surveillance photos obtained by TMZ show what appears to be four masked people wearing gloves and ball caps, walking through the bushes of Perry’s property.
Perry’s on-site security spotted the trespassers through thermal imaging and chased them off the property.
Don Moore, a board-certified protection professional and president of Moore Protection Inc., speculates the thieves made their way into the backyard, maybe from an adjoining neighborhood or a fire road, and says the actor’s security was spot on.
Moore didn’t personally install Perry’s security system, but says he knows the neighborhood well.
“Even if he had thermal imaging cameras and no one to respond, it probably would not have prevented the crime, but the fact that he had on-site security helped him greatly,” said Moore.
Neighbors who live in this Coldwater cul de sac are concerned for their safety.
“Everybody’s a little nervous lately because there have been some things happening,” said one neighbor who did not want to reveal her name but said she knows Perry socially.
She says the burglars are now dressing up as workmen or gardeners to gain access to people’s homes.
“People really have to pay attention because not every guy with a blower is a gardener,” said the neighbor. “Most of the time, they have walkie-talkies with them and they talk to the bigger person, or somebody else, and they communicate with other people.”
Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department responded to Perry’s property on Wednesday, but by the time they got there, the burglars were gone.
Perry was reportedly at a press event, and he hasn’t addressed the incident publicly.
