I was raised in a nice little city called Mesa; it's a suburb of Phoenix and was a great place to grow up.
Across the street from my house were two small farms that had horses, cows, chickens, and pigs and our side of the street was a grapefruit orchard so it was everything a little kid could ask for.
But in the 90's the greater Phoenix area really started to explode and tons of new people were moving into the Valley of the Sun everyday and inevitably crime rose.
It seemed like everyday I heard about some kids' bike getting ripped off, a car getting broken into, nothing that major.
It was strange because for most of my life I never could remember locking our front door or having to remember to put my bike in the garage or else it would get stolen but I guess that's what happens.
But at least we never had to really worry about a house getting broken into or anything-violent happening until one day when the neighborhood awoke to a violent and senseless crime.
It was like any other night for most of us, we ate dinner, watched a little TV, and then went to bed to get ready for the next day but not for the Jacobs.
During the night a man had broken into their house and was looking for whatever he could steal.
As he was going from room to room he made some noise and woke up the husband and wife who were sleeping in their room.
Not thinking too much about the noise the husband got up to see if one of his kids were up or something.
As the husband walked out he saw the man burglarizing his house and yelled at him to get out.
But instead of leaving the thief grabbed a knife and ran over and started stabbing the husband over and over.
The wife heard all the commotion and called 911 and told them that someone was in their house attacking her husband.
The police came as quick as they could but the damage had already been done.
The husband had been stabbed over 30 times and it looked like a he had been killed.
Luckily the police and fire departments both responded to the emergency and they were able to save the husband from dying right there.
The burglar was apprehended just down the road and is in prison now, but what he did sent shock waves through the community.
Suddenly there weren't kids playing in streets at night and everyone was scared for a long while.
The one thing that you did notice all around the neighborhood was that everyone got a security system.
We weren't just going to let burglars into our homes to rob us of everything that was near and dear to our hearts.
It's too bad that it takes something like this to make people realize that they need to protect their families and homes but sometimes it does.
Luckily the husband survived and made a complete recovery but his life and all of our lives changed that night.
I know that by having a security system on a house that it makes it much less likely that somebody will try to break into a house and I always encourage my friends and family to put one on their home.
There is a peace of mind that comes by having one armed and ready to go off in case somebody tries to break in.
Across the street from my house were two small farms that had horses, cows, chickens, and pigs and our side of the street was a grapefruit orchard so it was everything a little kid could ask for.
But in the 90's the greater Phoenix area really started to explode and tons of new people were moving into the Valley of the Sun everyday and inevitably crime rose.
It seemed like everyday I heard about some kids' bike getting ripped off, a car getting broken into, nothing that major.
It was strange because for most of my life I never could remember locking our front door or having to remember to put my bike in the garage or else it would get stolen but I guess that's what happens.
But at least we never had to really worry about a house getting broken into or anything-violent happening until one day when the neighborhood awoke to a violent and senseless crime.
It was like any other night for most of us, we ate dinner, watched a little TV, and then went to bed to get ready for the next day but not for the Jacobs.
During the night a man had broken into their house and was looking for whatever he could steal.
As he was going from room to room he made some noise and woke up the husband and wife who were sleeping in their room.
Not thinking too much about the noise the husband got up to see if one of his kids were up or something.
As the husband walked out he saw the man burglarizing his house and yelled at him to get out.
But instead of leaving the thief grabbed a knife and ran over and started stabbing the husband over and over.
The wife heard all the commotion and called 911 and told them that someone was in their house attacking her husband.
The police came as quick as they could but the damage had already been done.
The husband had been stabbed over 30 times and it looked like a he had been killed.
Luckily the police and fire departments both responded to the emergency and they were able to save the husband from dying right there.
The burglar was apprehended just down the road and is in prison now, but what he did sent shock waves through the community.
Suddenly there weren't kids playing in streets at night and everyone was scared for a long while.
The one thing that you did notice all around the neighborhood was that everyone got a security system.
We weren't just going to let burglars into our homes to rob us of everything that was near and dear to our hearts.
It's too bad that it takes something like this to make people realize that they need to protect their families and homes but sometimes it does.
Luckily the husband survived and made a complete recovery but his life and all of our lives changed that night.
I know that by having a security system on a house that it makes it much less likely that somebody will try to break into a house and I always encourage my friends and family to put one on their home.
There is a peace of mind that comes by having one armed and ready to go off in case somebody tries to break in.
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