Arizona father shares security footage of what he believes was an attempted home invasion

MESA, Ariz. - A Mesa father had a rude awakening this weekend when several unwanted guests came onto his property in the middle of the night.

John says a group of people came to his home three separate times on the same day, Sept. 2.

The first time, they vandalized his car. The second visit was caught on camera.

"Four young males between probably 18 and 20, something like that. Three of them were lining up next to the door. One of them was coming up to the door. I'm a retired violent crimes detective. That's a textbook home invasion. They beat on the door, they get you to answer it, and they overpower you, then they're in the house," he said.

John first noticed when he saw one of them put their hand over the Ring doorbell camera.

"As I go out the front door where the big security steel gate is, I see the young man at the doorbell and I thought he had seen me because immediately that's when all the banging happened. They took off and ran," he said.

It's the sound John heard when he watched back security camera footage that alarmed him.

"There's one point in the very video you can hear what sounds like a slide racking on a pistol. That's a very distinct sound. There are not a lot of things that sound like that," John said.

After calling police, John woke up his son to ask him if he recognized the four men.

"They are a group of people who have been cyberbullying him for a couple of months. Jake has autism, and he is a Latino, and that's the two things they were bullying him about. What they did before bullying him was befriend him and get his address," John said.

He says the group of men told his son that they were going to come for him, but Jake didn't believe them.

Watch the footage

"Either they came to make us think they were going to come and kill us, or they were really going to do something," the concerned father said.

The men came back for a third time, but they ran off before he went outside.

John says he filed a report with the police department.

Det. Brandi George with Mesa Police detailed the incident saying, "On September 2, 2023 at 3:08am, a man called police reporting two masked men banging on his door who left in a vehicle. He called a second time at 3:19am saying three men were now banging on the door. Officers arrived and did not locate the people or vehicle; however, the reporting party gave officers his home surveillance video of the incident."

Det. George anticipates more information to be released.