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Uploaded: Monday, October 19, 2009, 4:17 PM

Home-invasion robbery on Amherst Avenue
A 30-year-old woman awakened at 3:30 a.m. Sunday, bound and robbed -- but unhurt, police say

Posted by Sarah, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 19, 2009 at 4:35 pm

It's so horrible.

Posted by Wow, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 19, 2009 at 6:03 pm

"Bullerjahn reiterated a frequent warning: That residents should be sure keep their doors and windows locked, but during the day and night."

what?

"rudely awakened"?

no really? they actually politely asked to come in and then made her some tea.

The writing of some of the Palo Alto Online articles is going down the toilet. Is there no longer a staff of editors?

Posted by crazy, a resident of the Evergreen Park neighborhood, on Oct 19, 2009 at 6:46 pm

Right near stanford campus.

Posted by hmmm, a resident of the Leland Manor/Garland Drive neighborhood, on Oct 20, 2009 at 6:25 am

hmmm...glad she is ok,... but there is more to this story. She was able to get free from being bound up by 2 people? The one doing the stealing said "I am here to commit a robbery"? ...

Posted by Anonymous, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 20, 2009 at 12:14 pm

I'd like to see the police report because this article is missing some information. Were the windows or doors unlocked? Breaking and Entering? Where did the quote from the robber come from? What was stolen?

Posted by Baldy in a Caddy, a resident of the Fairmeadow neighborhood, on Oct 20, 2009 at 1:43 pm

Gosh, leave it to robbers in Palo Alto to be polite enough to tell you their robbing you as it actually occurs.

Im grateful the victim is safe and only posessions were lost in this case.

A high percentage of robberies are commited by people the victim knows. These guys dont sound too professional but they werent in a hurry if they tied bound and informed the victim of what was goin to happen. Sounds like they were comfortable,and knew nothing would give resistance to their robbery past the victim. If the obviously easy to fence off stuff wasnt taken than these guys knew what they were looking for and most likely know the victim or knows the home and victim through a 3rd party. Most home invasion robberies are commited by the people you know or 3rd parties that are well informed to the victims habits and defenses through out the home.

Theres alot missing but it is an on-goin investigation. My guess is 3rd party directing robbers to the victims home , or just a random pick a street and walk down checking door handles and windows for that one that isnt locked. Leaning more towards 3rd party direction though, lol.

Posted by Midtown resident, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Oct 20, 2009 at 3:19 pm

"Rudely awakened" does not refer to the manner of speech. Its

the correct way to describe what happened here. Its correct usage

for the situation.

I have a suggestion to "Wow". Shoot your TV.

Doesn't anyone read anymore? Ignorance of English abounds in the

U.S. Some of my well-educated co-workers make me shudder with their

spelling..

Posted by Too quick to judge, a resident of the Professorville neighborhood, on Oct 20, 2009 at 5:03 pm

Midtown resident, good point. Ignorance of English abounds in the U.S. BTW, you incorrectly spelled it's twice in your post.

Posted by A Noun Ea Mus, a resident of the Professorville neighborhood, on Oct 21, 2009 at 11:42 am

The writing of this story is weird, either by accident or design.

"A 30-year-old woman was rudely awakened, bound and blindfolded at 3:30 a.m. Sunday in her home in the 2000 block of Amherst Avenue, Palo Alto, police reported."

I was rudely awoken by my alarm clock this morning.

I assume that some physical contact was made in order to make the victim bound and blindfolded.

"The woman, who was not physically hurt, said she heard the voices of two men."

"One of the men told the woman he was there to commit a robbery."

I am trying to imagine an actual robbery scenario which could be described like this. Just for a moment place yourself in the place of either the robber(s) or the victim. If you suddenly (rudely---how would one "politely" awaken a victim in the middle of the night?) awaken the victim (or are so awoken) it would seem that some immediate restrain and threat of violence would be involved.

It's as if a new age robber took some course in robbery crisis management. "We are here to rob you only". ?

Sometimes reporters write things up laden with hints, other times they just screw things up.

Posted by A Noun Ea Mus, a resident of the Professorville neighborhood, on Oct 21, 2009 at 3:50 pm

PS the Mercury News has the story written up a bit better it seems.

Web Link

Posted by stool, a resident of the Charleston Meadows neighborhood, on Oct 22, 2009 at 5:44 am

how funny "rudely awkaned" ill let my wife know when she does that to me

Posted by Curious Observer, a resident of Mountain View, on Oct 22, 2009 at 7:55 am
Curious Observer is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online

Did this happen on Amherst St (in College Terrace) or Amherst Ave? Where is Amherst Ave?

Posted by jack, a resident of the Adobe-Meadows neighborhood, on Oct 22, 2009 at 12:13 pm

Perhaps they really only just wanted to rob her, but didn't want her to struggle or "cause hardship" lest she thought they were there to do physical harm (up to and including sexual assault). Professionals?