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Man in hazmat suit stalking Kansas neighborhoods has residents on edge

Posted at 9:59 PM, Jun 14, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-14 21:59:15-04

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- He's dressed in white from head to toe, apparently covering his face so no one recognizes him, and he's showing up on home surveillance videos across the Overland Park, Kansas area.

Summerwood Estates, Polo Fields and Mills Farm neighborhoods don't get a lot of criminal activity, so when somebody dressed in a hazmat suit started stalking through the neighborhoods, it alarmed a lot of people, WDAF reported.

“That's creepy,” Officer John Lacy said when he watched the videos collected on doorbell cameras. “The first thing I thought is, 'It's really creepy and why would someone walk around in a hazmat suit?'"

More specifically, someone wearing a hazmat suit with his face covered, a miner's light on his head and with a backpack and gloves. The person walks up to homes and around backyards.

One woman, who didn't want to be identified, said she heard her doorbell camera alarm go off around midnight.

"We have a new puppy and lots of kids in and out, so I didn't think too much of it," she said. “But when I got up and checked Facebook, I had all sort of neighbors posting videos, and I thought, 'Well that is kind of odd.'"

When she checked her video, the woman said, "It was the same strange, creepy person who had started to come to the front porch."

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The creeper actually went into another woman's screened-in porch.

"When we woke up Tuesday morning, we noticed the door was opened, and we noticed the latch was just left open," she said.

When she heard about what happened from neighbors on Facebook, it dawned on her the man may have also tried to get in another way.

"Monday night, when all of this went on, supposedly, my husband got up and heard something tapping, and he went downstairs," she said.

After checking, the couple found a shattered basement window.

“Last night, we went and bought a doorbell camera and cameras for the front and the back, so my husband is going to install them this weekend,” she said. “We are loaded up, and we also have a security system in the house."

Overland Park police say not to confront the man if you see him; instead, call 911 immediately.