ORLANDO, Fla. – An 11-year-old girl hid in a closet and called 911 while three people broke into her home, the Orange County Sheriff's Office said.
Ashley Bermudez told News 6 she was at her home in the Meadow Woods subdivision in Orlando around 1 p.m. Tuesday when three people entered the residence.
Her mother said she had only been gone for about 6 minutes to run to the store when she received a call from her daughter saying the men were "knocking on the door very hard," according to the incident report.
"I was in my living room, and I heard constant knocking, and I got scared," Bermudez said.
She said she got even more frightened when she heard the people trying to get inside.
"I heard glass break in my house, in my living room," she said. "I thought, 'They're coming in to rob us or do something,' I don't know."
Ashley said she called 911, and the operator told her to go upstairs to her bedroom, lock the door and hide in the closet.
She said she could hear the people rummaging through her home, and then they tried to get inside her room.
"Then they kicked open the door, and then, when they saw me, the man that saw me says, 'Run,' to everybody who was in there," she said. "So they all ran, and I went to my window and I saw the car zooming off."
A patrol deputy saw the three people fleeing the home in a stolen van. The driver of that vehicle sped away on State Road 417 as a deputy trailed behind, according to a news release. The deputy backed off from the pursuit.
When the driver tried to exit from State Road 417, about four miles away on Boggy Creek, he hit a flatbed truck and went off the road under State Road 417, deputies said.
The three people in the vehicle, Ramon Franklin, 18, a 16-year-old, and a 14-year-old, were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the flatbed truck received minor injuries.
Deputies said the suspects stole several Christmas presents, including electronics, jewelry, cash and clothing adding up to more than $13,000 worth of items. All three are expected to face burglary and theft charges.