Opinion ID: 4371404
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Home Invasion

Text: In the early morning hours of December 18, 2014, at approximately 2:45 a.m., Carol Chabot (Carol) awoke to a shuffling noise coming from the downstairs of her two-story house in Saco, Maine. Sensing something was not right, she woke her -2- husband, Steve Chabot (Steve), who lay beside her. Steve, however, did not hear the noise but told Carol it's probably Rachel who caused the noise — with Rachel being Rachel Owens (Rachel), a family friend who was staying the night. Then Steve rolled over to go back to sleep. Undeterred, Carol got out of bed to investigate. As she walked down the upstairs hallway, toward the spare bedroom where Rachel was staying, Carol heard a second noise -- this time the loud sound of glass shattering. With haste, she looked into the spare bedroom and noticed Rachel was sound asleep in bed. Steve also heard the loud noise and hurried out of bed to check what was going on. He peeked out of his bedroom towards the staircase and saw an intruder racing up the stairs with a gun in his right hand. The intruder, later identified as Owens, was approximately 5 feet 9 inches tall with a slim, athletic build; he wore dark clothing, gloves, and a black mask with a single opening at the eyes and glasses protruding from it. Steve shouted an expletive at the intruder and dashed back into the master bedroom. Carol, who did not see the intruder but saw a look of horror on her husband's face, ran into a third bedroom used as a home office and barricaded herself inside. The intruder followed her and tried to force his way into the room, but, after a few failed attempts, suddenly stopped. He then walked -3- toward the room where Rachel lay and fired at her three times, hitting her in the head, arm, and torso. Having heard the gun shots, Steve peeked out of the master bedroom again. He saw the intruder about two feet away, heading towards him. They looked at each other face to face. Steve immediately slammed the door shut and held his arm against it. Undaunted, the intruder kicked the door in, looked inside through the now slightly-opened doorway, and fired shots through the door, striking Steve in the arm, neck, and rib area.1 The intruder then abandoned the Chabot residence. He did not take any valuables with him.