A residential agent was the victim of a disturbing attack at an Encino open house on Sunday afternoon. And the whole thing was caught on camera.
Security footage from a camera above the home’s front door shows a man pushing the agent into a bush and then standing over her as she screamed, according to the local NBC affiliate.
After pushing her into the bush, the man grabbed her chest and then ran off. The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating the incident as a battery.
The incident was the culmination of a frightening pattern of behavior. The man had visited the open house before. He asked her to check something behind the washer and dryer, then immediately grabbed her and lifted her up over them, according to NBC-LA. She believes another suspicious man at an earlier open house conspired with her attacker.
On Sunday, she went outside while he was in the house and she said he repeatedly tried to get her come back into the house.
“He tried so many times, and no way I was going inside,” she said.
The woman works for a Keller Williams office in the area. Her team leader, Bob Siegmeth, said he arranged for a self-defense instructor to come to the office on Tuesday.
“You wouldn’t imagine something like this would happen in daylight, especially when a camera is recording,” Siegmeth said. “I think the big thing is to educate our agents and make sure they know what’s going on.”
Open houses are ripe targets. Police charged a Keller Williams agent and an accomplice last month with dozens of counts for a string of burglaries during open houses between 2016 and 2018.
Agents told The Real Deal they make sure someone is watching every part of the house, particularly at large high-end homes, and said jewelry and medication are often targeted by thieves. [NBC-LA]
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