A woman has claimed that thieves attempted to steal her apartment by breaking in, changing the locks, and throwing out most of her stuff while she was away – and they even put up her Christmas tree.
Shayna Rice, from Tacoma, Washington, was completely shocked when she came home one day and noticed that other people were living inside her home.
The mom-of-one claimed that two strangers broke into her apartment while she was out. But they didn’t just rob her and leave.
Instead, they took up residence there for weeks – selling most of her valuables and throwing out the rest of her things – and they even changed the locks on the door so that she could no longer get inside.
Eventually, the police kicked down the door and arrested the intruders, who allegedly had a gun and a knife with them.
A woman claimed thieves stole her apartment from her by breaking in, changing the locks, and throwing out most of her stuff while she was away – and they even put up her Christmas tree
Shayna Rice, from Tacoma, Washington, was completely shocked when she came home one day and noticed that other people were living inside her home
Shayna claimed two strangers broke into her apartment. But they didn’t just rob her and leave. They took up residence there for weeks and changed the locks so she couldn’t get inside
Eventually, the police kicked down the door and arrested a man and a woman
Shayna opened up about the experience on TikTok and has since gone viral, gaining more than four million views in a matter of days.
‘Someone moved into our house while we were gone, changed our locks, packed all our stuff and sold some of it, and tried to re-decorate,’ she wrote in a video that showed police surrounding the apartment before kicking the door down.
‘The police had to kick down our door because we couldn’t get in because they changed the locks. They were clearly still inside.
She added, while showing viewers the various things that were missing and the empty rooms of her house: ‘They had a gun and a knife police found. They drew on our pictures. They went in storage and put up Christmas decor. They stole our dryer.’
In another clip, Shayna spoke out about the situation further, and she explained that she has more than one apartment, so she hadn’t been there in a while.
A few weeks ago, she went to pick up her Christmas tree, but noticed that the storage unit (which sits on their porch) had been tinkered with and that there was tape over the dead bolt, so she decided not to go inside.
A neighbor told her that they had heard some arguing coming from the apartment, but assumed it was just her. They also said they saw lots of trash bags outside of the home recently.
Shayna said she didn’t recognize the two intruders, who claimed someone told them they could stay there
She said they sold most of her valuables – including her TVs, dryer, and computer – and threw out the rest of her things
They even went in her storage unit and took out her Christmas decorations – including a little tree, stocking holders, and lights
Shayna said they allegedly had a gun and a knife with them
The mom-of-one opened up about the experience on TikTok and has since gone viral, gaining more than four million views in a matter of days
A few days later, Shayna went back and noticed that the tape was gone and now, a shiny new lock was on the door.
However, she thought that her landlord was the one who had changed it.
‘I thought, “Maybe something happened and they had to change the locks. Maybe someone broke in,”‘ Shayna explained.
But when she went to the building’s office and asked them about it, the management team said they had no idea why the lock was changed, and that’s when she became alarmed.
She continued: ‘They called head of maintenance and they said they never touched our door and they haven’t been in our apartment. They’re like, “You need to call the police.”
When the police arrived, they noticed that there were wood splinters on the ground near the door – like someone had previously kicked it in to gain access to the apartment.
‘They kicked in the door, somehow made sure it still worked and took out our lock and replaced the lock,’ Shayna claimed.
‘The police start knocking on the door, they’re like, “Who’s in here. Open up.” But they’re not opening the door.
‘[They] get the door down and boom, the police rush in there. All I hear is, “Put your hands up.”‘
Once inside, Shayna said the police found a gun and a knife. They brought out a man and a woman, who she said she did not recognize.
And when she was finally allowed into her house, she was shocked by what she saw. Not only did they sell her valuables and put the rest of her stuff into garbage bags, but they also hung up some of her Christmas decorations.
‘As soon as we go up the stairs, the first thing we see in the living room is hella bags, hella s**t packed up, put into a nice little corner in the living room,’ she explained.
The robbers allegedly drew on her pictures and put up some of her Christmas decorations
They were sleeping on her son’s mattress on the floor
Shayna said that her closet was emptied – and that most of her shoes and purses were gone
Thankfully, Shayna told viewers that she has rentals insurance and that she will be filing a claim on everything they took
‘Second thing I notice is, there’s Christmas decorations up. My little mini tree that they took out of my storage, little stocking holders, Christmas lights.
‘Next thing I noticed was the big a** knife they had. They were ready to fight about this apartment. They were like, “This is our s**t, you’re not getting it back.”‘
She said they also completely emptied out her closet.
‘My shoe rack was empty. All my shoes, gone. All the purses that were there, gone. I don’t know what they did with them, but they were gone,’ she said.
All the TV’s in the house were gone, as well as her dryer, air fryer, and Apple computer.
‘I don’t know how they moved a big a** dryer down those stairs with nobody seeing them but apparently they did,’ Shayna said.
According to Shayna, when the police talked to the two strangers, they claimed they just entered the house the night before and that somebody told them they could stay there.
‘They’re lying. First of all, they brought stuff with them. They brought my son’s dresser into my room and put a big a** printer on it,’ she added.
‘They brought a laptop. They had time to re-decorate, like no one’s stupid. They bagged up our s**t, stole hella of our stuff, sold it probably.
‘Bagged up our stuff, and was probably going to give it away or sell it, I don’t know but they were kicking us out of our own house.’
Thankfully, Shayna told viewers that she has rentals insurance and that she will be filing a claim on everything they took.