‘Burglar’ sparks panic in North Carolina house. Here’s why cops were laughing later
Unsettling noises boomed through a North Carolina house, sparking fears of a midnight intruder.
Thomas and Elisa Milam were enjoying a movie when they scrambled to get to a “safe place,” the husband wrote Monday on Facebook.
Amid the panic, Milam grabbed a gun, and his wife called 911, he wrote.
But nothing was as it seemed.
Deputies rushed to the house and met with the frightened homeowners, the husband wrote.
They had a simple question: “Is this Roomba yours?” Milam wrote on Facebook.
It turns out the culprit was actually the couple’s new robot vacuum cleaner, according to the post.
It “had somehow turned itself on” and started to bump into walls, creating loud noises, the post said.
That’s why Milam says he thought someone was “downstairs rummaging through things.”
“I think I put my face in my hands,” he told McClatchy News. “I was so embarrassed because it dawned on me.”
The couple just got the vacuum, and their admission made all the cops laugh, according to Milam.
The family found some humor in the situation, too.
“In honor of this event, we decided to name our robot vacuum Harry, the sticky bandit from ’Home Alone,’” Milam wrote on Facebook.
His advice?
“Make sure you turn off your robot vacuums before they rob you blind,” he wrote.
The ordeal happened in Forsyth County, roughly 10 miles southwest of Winston-Salem, WGHP reports.
This story was originally published December 26, 2019 at 11:44 AM.
