CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – Surveillance video shows the moment a man walked up to an Oakleaf home, scoping it out before attempting to get inside.
"This time, he found me. He left me scared," resident Claudia Austria said. "The next house he goes to, he's not going to find someone scared. He's going to find a homeowner with a gun, and it's not worth whatever else is inside."
Austria was in the home alone. She said the man tried to go to her back door and open it before she hit the door with her hand, scaring him away.
Multiple neighbors have confirmed seeing a strange man trying to get into their homes.
Kyle Sprague, who lives across the street, saw a man pulling on her door knob.
"Please don't come back because I don't want to hurt you. Honestly, that's what I would say," Sprague said.
"I was scared and I was really scared, actually," Austria said. "I banged on the door once with the palm of my hand to let him know I was in there. He bent down and picked something up and then took off running. I was frozen in place. I don't know what to do. Then, I heard a car door close and the car sped off."
Austria, who spoke with News4Jax by phone Saturday, said she filed a police report after seeing the man.
Other people living in the neighborhood reported seeing the man at their homes around the same time Thursday. Although nothing was taken and no one hurt, people there said it's scary to see a man "pulling on door knobs, testing his luck."
"I'm a little freaked out. I'm a little paranoid anyway when it comes to my house and my family and their safety," Sprague said. "So to know someone's going around and essentially testing the waters, I don't really like it and I'm not going to say that I'm not waiting for something to happen again. I'm always watching now."
The Clay County Sheriff's Office is investigating, but if anyone recognizes the man in the surveillance video, contact the Sheriff's Office immediately.