A woman from Venice Beach, Calif. hastily climbed out of her bedroom in the second level of her house in the early morning of Sept. 24 to hide from a masked intruder.
The woman identified as Melora Rivera sought refuge in her home's roof and crouched in fear. Her sole weapon is her mobile phone, which she used to seek help.
"Once I saw him in the house, I knew that we both couldn't be there," said Rivera. "I knew that I didn't want to have a confrontation with him of any sort, you know, not knowing what his intention was."
The cops arrived minutes after Rivera called. However, reports say that they were unsure if Rivera, who was perched on the roof, was the burglar herself. The woman reportedly refused to come down initially despite being demanded by the police to do so.
"My biggest fear was that he was going to be forced by the cops to come hide in basically the same place I was hiding," said Rivera.
A bystander who was trying to catch all the action by snapping photos said that while she was taking the woman's picture, she suddenly saw a "scary" figure that popped up on the opposite side of the roof. The police and onlookers realized that the woman hiding on the roof was the victim who called for help.
"I look and I see my neighbor, my friend up on the roof cowering," said Josh Romano, a neighbor.
The intruder who was looming over her was identified later on as Christian Hicks, 29. The responding police officers had successfully brought the man down after talking to him. Once he got down, he was immediately placed under arrest around 7:15 am.
Firefighters rescued Rivera and got her off the roof using a ladder.
The police said that Rivera did the right thing when she tried her best to escape and called the cops for help.
Since the incident had been a traumatic experience for Rivera, the neighbors noted that she had no plans yet to return home immediately. In the meantime, Hicks was taken into the custody of the police on suspicion of burglary.
