Mar 19, 2011

20 yr uses facebook to call cops, foils robbery in Atlanta area

A twenty year old student hid in his home attic (smartly) when armed robbers entered the home and used facebook status update to have this friend call the police. Cops arrived just in time to foil the robbery and save the family from real danger of injury.


Watch cnn video here
As masked intruders tied up a grandmother and her granddaughter, another family member hid upstairs and used the social networking website to get a friend to call police.



"It is a time waster," 20- year-old Nitesh Bhakta told Channel 2's Tom Jones about Facebook.He now knows it can not only be a time waster, but a lifesaver as well.Bhakta was in his bed on his laptop at his family's home on Highway 20 Spur Wednesday night."I just heard my grandma screaming," he said.The University of Georgia sophomore raced to the door to see what was going on."Saw three hooded masked guys like right there," Bhakta said from his upstairs bedroom.

The intruders broke in and at gunpoint, tied up his 17-year-old sister and grandmother.The grandmother said the intruders put a gun to her head and screamed, "Just give me the money. Just give me the money."Bhakta says he had to think fast."I grabbed my laptop quickly, like I kinda, like, just leapt and grabbed it," Bhakta said.He had left his phone in Athens, so he locked his bedroom door and headed to the attic with his laptop.The intruders burst in but didn't see him or his computer."And then I took it out and opened it up and just got on Facebook and started posting," Bhakta said.He posted "HELP!!!!!!" as his status update.Bhakta also posted, "Someone please call 911. No phone. Hiding in my house. Robbers," he said as he read the updates from his laptop.His best friend called police.Bartow County deputies quickly arrived and caught one of the men while two, possibly three of the intruders got away.Bartow County Sheriff Clark Milsap said he had never heard of Facebook helping to fight crime."Had it not been for the Facebook message and his buddy calling in, it could have been this morning before the family was found," Sheriff Milsap said.Bhakta says with no phone he had no choice to get help the best way he knew how. 

Additional coverage courtesty: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/27231856/detail.html

Funny twist: Intruders might sue facebook for interfering with their normal business activities

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