Swampscott police investigate daytime break-ins

SWAMPSCOTT – Police responded to two daytime break-ins within approximately two hours in the Beach Bluff neighborhood on Monday and are now asking for citizens’ help in finding the suspects.”If anybody sees anybody acting suspicious, anybody they don’t know in their neighborhood, call them in,” Swampscott Police Sgt. Tim Cassidy said Tuesday. “I think the neighbor that called in did a great job. He looked out and saw something and called it right in.”Cassidy said that the police believe the proximity of the break-ins and the similar nature of the crimes suggest a single person or persons are responsible for the break-ins. A Beach Bluff Avenue resident reported the first break-in at approximately 11 a.m., when he or she returned home to find a window to the house had been smashed in, according to a press release from Swampscott Police. While checking the house, officers discovered that the suspect had apparently armed himself with a knife from the kitchen area. Also missing were several easily portable small electronic devices including a computer monitor and iPod Touch, Cassidy said.”You usually don’t find that someone grabs a kitchen knife when breaking into the house. It certainly heightens the fear factor,” said Cassidy.Later, at approximately 1:15 p.m., police responded to a call from a resident on Young Avenue who reported a loud noise and a person climbing into his neighbor’s smashed window, the press release said. Cassidy said that there was no description for the suspect but that he or she appeared to exit the house immediately through the front door. Officers tripped a house alarm when responding to the scene and no items were reported missing.Cassidy said that the suspect or suspects did leave behind clues being analyzed by the state crime lab and that Marblehead Police and the Essex County Sheriff’s Dept. K9 Unit assisted at the scene.